Abstract: There is a large difference between the caving space used in the production in Meishan Iron Mine and the optimal caving space, which has certain effect on the main technical and economic performances of the mine.Analysis is made of the caving space used when the stope adopts a 15 m×20 m large space structure.In combination with the results of the industrial ejection body tests made at different production stages and of the tests on the drilling and blasting parameters, a new thought is proposed on the optimization of mine caving space, which can be used as the reference for the similar domestic mines.

Key words: Pillarless sublevel caving method, Structural parameters, Caving space, Research