Stoping

Definition of stoping

• Working out the reef upwards between two levels by steps or stopes carried forward one after the other (about six or more feet in height), at such distances that the working of the upper stope shall not interfere with the next beneath it. This stoping continues until eventually the whole height of the reef between the two levels is in work.
• Stoping in alluvial mining is levelling the bottom of a drive.

– The Gold Fields and Mineral Districts of Victoria, 1869.