ARRANGEMENT FOR DRILLING AND SUPPORTING ENTRIES

Forming a hole between lower and upper parallel galleries formed in a mine by boring upwardly from the lower gallery a bore hole having a first length equal to a fraction of the distance between the lower and upper galleries, then casing the bore hole by thrusting upwardly at least one pipe section having a diameter sufficient to be gripped by the shrinkage of the bore hole into the bore hole. Boring upwardly after casing the first length by a further length equal to a fraction of the distance between the lower and upper galleries, then casing the newly formed further length of the bore hole by thrusting upwardly at least one further pipe section having a diameter less than the inside diameter of any pipe sections previously disposed in the bore hole and sufficient to be gripped by the shrinkage of the newly formed further length of the bore hole through the any previously disposed pipe sections into the newly formed further length of the bore hole, and then repeating the two previous steps of boring a further length and casing the newly formed further length until the upper gallery is reached.