Configure Stope Cutting Settings

The Stope Cut post-processing function in MSO lets you subdivide the final stope shapes based on user-defined rules. This is useful for operational planning, such as cutting stopes into drillable and blastable sections based on either size or fractions of the stope’s dimensions.

Note: Stope cutting cannot be performed in combination with stope merging.

Use stope cutting when:

  • You need to break larger stopes into drillable segments for scheduling.

  • You want to standardize stope panel sizes for consistency in design.

  • Your operation requires control over individual blastable units (such as for slotting and timing).

Note: Stope cutting is performed after all other post-processing stages (including merging and annealing) and affects only the final stope solids, not their internal properties or economic evaluation.

Activity steps

  1. Create an MSO scenario and define a block model.

  2. Configure other settings as required.

  3. Display the Post Processing screen.

  4. Ensure Use Stope Merging is unchecked.

  5. Check Use Stope Cutting.

  6. Choose a Merge Direction. This determines how the stope is subdivided:•

    • Fraction – Define a fractional cut along U and/or V axes (for example, 0.5 for half cuts).

    • Size – Define fixed dimension cut lengths (in meters) along U and/or V directions.

  7. Depending on the selected mode, you input either:

    1. A fraction (such as 0.5 = cut into halves), or;

    2. a size (such as 20.0 = cut every 20m) along the selected axes.

  8. Continue adding UV values using + to set up variable cutting intervals.

  9. Save your settings.

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