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Caved Stopes

Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2009 9:12 am
by Plays In The Dirt
I thought that I'd share some information I learned yesterday about mining, (in this case for gold). I was on my quad exploring the backside of Ruby Hill when I saw what a large section of the hill that appeared to have been excavated quite extensively. I mean it looked like a large area had a big bite out of it. When I was visiting with my geologist friend last night I asked him about it and he explained that it was "Caved Stopes." Very basically what this means is that many years ago when they dug horizontal caves in the sides of hills or mountains they shored them up using timbers (and other methods). Through the years the timbers rotted and the caves (or shafts) collapsed and caved-in giving the appearance that a huge section of the hill or mountain had been heavily excavated, (such as I saw). They're also caused my another mining method in which after the ore was removed the miners would back-fill the space with old timbers - wood - etc. and when that rotted away the cave collapsed. So next time you're out in an area that has been mined and you see an area such as this, it just may be a caved stopes that has collapsed.

Here's a couple of Photos of what I saw.


Image

Image

Re: Caved Stopes

Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2009 12:16 pm
by Desert Cruiser
Here's an explanation of Stoping that's easy to understand
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoping_%2 ... _method%29

Don....

Re: Caved Stopes

Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 5:11 pm
by Jim Hatt
Greg,

Did the Geologist identify those specific photos as Caved Stopes?
They look an awful lot like Open Pit Mines in solid rock to me.

Re: Caved Stopes

Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 5:34 pm
by Plays In The Dirt
Jim Hatt wrote:Greg,

Did the Geologist identify those specific photos as Caved Stopes?
They look an awful lot like Open Pit Mines in solid rock to me.
Jim, yes he did. In fact he knows that because it's the mine I work at and he's the geologist there. I thought that they were open pit mines myself so that's why I specifically asked him about it when I went to his house.

Re: Caved Stopes

Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 6:00 pm
by Jim Hatt
Can't argue with "The Man", (and get very far :D) that's the kind of stuff he is paid to know. Sure could have fooled me tho!

Re: Caved Stopes

Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 6:19 pm
by Plays In The Dirt
Jim Hatt wrote:Can't argue with "The Man", (and get very far :D) that's the kind of stuff he is paid to know. Sure could have fooled me tho!
Yes me too because they sure look like open pit mining. But then he's been a gold mining geologist for (30) years so I have to assume he knows a little about what he's talking about.

Re: Caved Stopes

Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 6:03 am
by Jim Hatt
Maybe they stoped back in there horizontally at first, then stoped up from the drift until they broke through the top. Then the rest just caved in around it?

Re: Caved Stopes

Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 10:18 am
by Goldseeker
Plays In The Dirt wrote:
Jim Hatt wrote:Can't argue with "The Man", (and get very far :D) that's the kind of stuff he is paid to know. Sure could have fooled me tho!
Yes me too because they sure look like open pit mining. But then he's been a gold mining geologist for (30) years so I have to assume he knows a little about what he's talking about.



Hey Greg, when we first started talking, you were not that much interested in gold prospecting, but now, after being around it for a while, and realizing that yes, its still out there, are you starting to get the "fever" :lol:

Re: Caved Stopes

Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2009 1:31 pm
by Jim Hatt
Yeah Greg,

Is it getting to you yet? :?

Re: Caved Stopes

Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2009 4:38 pm
by MMM
I have been in many old mines and it is very common to find both caved stopes and open exposed ones. It is wise to use extreame caution around any old mine, due to the fact that many times the old times dug literly within feet of the surface and walking on the ground can cause a cave in with deadly results.

Mike