Pillar Width

One cannot discuss pillar width without relating it to pillar height. The overall strength of
a pillar is related to its height, i.e., it is a matter of the ratio of pillar width W to pillar H. The
amount of load that the pillar can safely carry is proportional to the W:H ratio. Thus it is
that a pillar with a ratio of 4: 1 has a much larger safety factor than a pillar of 4:4 or 1:l.

The actual load that pillars can really carry can only be measured. The theoretical load
as calculated by the overburden load distributed to the pillars may or may not be the load
actually being carried. There is a good chance that the load may be arching over some
of the interior pillars of the stope and transferred to barrier pillars or waste areas. In such
cases, it may be that the interior pillars can be made smaller as yielding pillars. If the
stopes are very wide, then a row of large rectangular barrier pillars should be left at regular
intervals. In areas of very large lateral extent, this will prevent cascading pillar failure of
the entire area (Zipf and Mark 1997).