A method of stoping in which the ore is extracted by excavating a series of horizontal (sometimes inclined) timbered slices alongside each other, beginning at the top of the orebody and working progressively downward; the slices are caved by blasting out the timbers, bringing the capping or overburden down upon the bottom of the slices that 3330 have been previously covered with a floor or mat of timber to separate the caved material from the solid ore beneath. Succeedingly lower slices are mined in a similar manner up to the overlying mat or gob, which consists of an accumulation of broken timbers and lagging from the upper slices and of caved capping.