Underground mining is a method used to extract minerals and ores that are located beneath the earth’s surface. This process involves creating tunnels or shafts to access these resources, making it a more complex operation. The primary function of underground mining is to extract valuable minerals and resources that are not accessible through surface mining methods. (Services, 2024).
The choice of mining method depends on factors such as depth, shape, stability and grade. There are several mining methods but here is a few we’ll mention.
- Longwall Mining: This mining process involves the use of is a highly efficient method of coal extraction. A large cutting machine, the longwall shearer, which moves back and forth across the face of the coal seam, slicing off coal, which then falls onto a conveyor belt for removal. is recognized for its high level of productivity and efficiency, with recovery rates that can exceed 75% (Longwall Mining, 2025)
- Room-and-Pillar Mining: This mining method is especially used in mining coal. In this mining system, the coal seam is mined in a checkerboard pattern, leaving pillars of coal to support the tunnel roof. The holes, or rooms with a size of 20 to 30 feet, are mined out by a machine called a continuous miner (Alice, 2022a).
- Cut-and-Fill Mining: This method works by drilling an access ramp adjacent to the ore deposit from the surface down to the lowest point of the deposit. Miners then drill through the top of the deposit to the bottom, allowing the ore to be collected from the bottom for transport (Everything You Need To Know About Underground Mining – Preciousmetalinfo.Com, 2025). It is ideal for relatively narrow ore deposits, or steeply dipping high-grade deposits with the weak host rock (Alice, 2022b).
- Sublevel Stoping: Sublevel stoping is a mining method in which ore is blasted from different levels of elevation but is removed from one level at the bottom of the mine. Before mining begins, an ore pass is usually drilled from a lower to a higher elevation. Jumbos selectively drill holes into the roof of the drift and fill them with explosives. When the roof is blasted, loose rocks or muck, fall through the drilled ore pass. Drilling and blasting continue until the stope is completely excavated.
Underground mining is essential for deep ore deposits and are provides a safer, more environmentally sustainable alternative to large- scale surface mining.
Left out your favorite underground mining method? Share in the comments below.
