A widely used extraction method for flat-lying deposits like coal or potash. Miners cut a grid of intersecting tunnels, leaving solid blocks of the deposit intact to hold up the overlying rock. Once the panel is fully driven, miners may extract the pillars in retreat, allowing the roof to collapse in a controlled manner.
Heard on the job
We're running a standard room and pillar layout with forty-foot centers on this panel.
Also heard as
- bord and pillar
- pillar and stall