Stoping is considered "productive work", and is contrasted with "deadwork", the work required merely to access the mineral deposit, such as sinking shafts and winzes, carving adits, tunnels, and levels, and establishing ventilation and transportation.
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In mining, a rib pillar separates one stope from the other and is aligned transverse of the stope, perpendicular to the strike. It is used in mines to increase the strata stability of the stope and support the raises, winzes or shaft of the mine.
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The miners worked on "group piece work." Each group was paid fortnightly according to the amount of work done, measured in cubic fathoms in the stopes, or in feet for driving levels or sinking winzes. The cost of explosives used, and of carbide supplied for lamps, was deducted from the payments made. Surface workers in the mill were paid weekly wages.
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The bulk of the mineral here is magnetite, but other sulfide and minerals of copper, lead zinc and silver attracted miners. Thomas Coyle operated the mine in 1895, producing 2.6 tons of copper and 26.1 kg of silver. In 1907 the Cowley Copper Syndicate Ltd started more work cutting two more adits and winzes. However it was abandoned by 1909 as the ore was too low grade.
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The water from the mine was light, the largest pump being an plunger pump, which sufficed to keep clear of water the workings below the tunnel level. Ventilation was afforded by a regular system of winzes from level to level. The ore was crushed in a fifteen-stamp mill. The weight of stamps was seven hundred and fifty pounds, dropping seven inches 90 times per minute, and crushing through No. 5 round- punched screens.
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By 1975, mining operations had reached the level, and two winzes were planned to . The gold ore mined at Homestake was considered low grade (less than one ounce per ton), but the body of ore was very large. Through 2001, the mine produced of gold and of silver. In terms of total production, the Lead mining district, of which the Homestake mine is the only producer, was the second-largest gold producer in the United States, after the Carlin district in Nevada.
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A small battery locomotive was installed for tramming on that level. Horses were still used on the other levels, but in time they too were replaced by battery locomotives. Murray's Shaft was deepened again to the 200 Fathom Level about 1940, but that development was abandoned when it was found that the winding engine could not lift ore from that depth, and a new engine was unobtainable during the war. Instead a series of winzes were sunk from various places along the 175 Fathom Level.
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Firewood was swung across the creek to the furnace on wire ropes. The copper adit was driven , with winzes and drives off it, and a shaft connecting to the surface from the portal. The most recent smelting of 150 tons of ore produced 25 tons of matte containing 29% copper and 76oz silver and 6 dwt gold per ton matte. Mining recommenced in 1904, but was abandoned again in 1907, this time reputedly due to falling tin prices, though copper fell dramatically in 1907 as well.
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Once the ore body has been identified a shaft is sunk in the vicinity of the ore veins, and crosscuts are driven horizontally to the veins at various levels, usually every 100 to 150 metres. Similar tunnels, known as drifts, are driven along the ore veins from the crosscut. To extract the ore, the next step is to drive tunnels, known as raises when driven upwards and winzes when driven downwards, through the deposit from level to level. Raises are subsequently used to develop the stopes where the ore is mined from the veins.
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These levels were connected by winzes and much of the intermediate ore was mined. Power was acquired by a flume over a in length, which follows the mountain slope at an elevation of , collecting water from the many small creeks. This was connected with a pipe line, which supplied Pelton wheels at the mill, and a total of 300 horsepower was obtained. In 1904, mining continued, and most of the developed ore is said to have been stamped out and milled. Early in 1905, this company discontinued operations at Snettisham and plans were being made to remove both mill and mine equipment.
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In 1943 a crew drifting east on the 2700 level following the Silver Syndicate fault discovered the famous Chester vein. It was primarily the exploitation of the Sunshine vein followed by the Chester vein that determined the present configuration of the underground workings. With the discovery of the Chester vein on the 2700 level and the ore body's distance from the Jewell shaft of approximately 4000 feet east - southeast, other internal shafts (the No. 4, No. 5 and No. 10 shafts, more properly defined as winzes) were sunk or raised to more efficiently service the operations. The other principal internal shaft is the No. 12 shaft, servicing the Copper vein and the West Syndicate vein in the western end of the mine.
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The general tendency of the air current was down the shaft to the bottom of the mine, and up through the various winzes (intermediate shafts) to the adit level. The open end of the adit had been connected to a sloping wooden chimney on the hillside, by which means the draught was increased. The shaft was originally sunk to a depth of 15 fathoms, subsequently being extended to over 100 fathoms () with levels extended respectively at 25, 40, 50, 60 and 70 fathoms north, and at 60 fathoms south. The 40 fathom () level was driven to 96 fathoms (), passing through a long run of ore which was followed by a rich find of lead ore in the mine during further working in 1871.
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