The solid rock surfaces immediately flanking a vein, fault, or orebody. In inclined deposits, miners distinguish between the hanging wall located above the ore and the footwall located below it. The structural integrity of these surfaces dictates the mining method and the amount of ground support required to extract the ore safely.
We left a skin of ore on the hanging wall to keep the weak country rock from sloughing into the stope.
Related terms
Hanging wall
The block of rock that lies above an inclined fault plane or ore body.
Footwall
The block of rock that lies on the underside of an inclined fault or mineral vein.
Lode
A defined vein or tabular deposit of valuable metallic ore embedded within barren rock.
Country rock
The pre-existing, non-mineralized rock that surrounds and encloses an orebody or igneous intrusion.