## 6 Discussion and Conclusions  
The analysis on plastic zone distribution around the mining rooms during the mining of the ore body in the four layers reveals that the closer the mining room is to the stress concentration position, the more easily the surrounding rock is damaged. A total of 30 mining rooms are arranged in the four layers, and 6 mining rooms are partially damaged on a small scale during the mining process.  
In summary, the GCB formed by grout filling in the goat manages to support the stope below. However, affected by original mining disturbance, the surrounding rock of a few mining rooms close to the GCB is damaged. Therefore, it is suggested to strengthen the monitoring of rock pressure and displacement of the surrounding rock and take corresponding protective measures during mining activities in the mining rooms near the GCB.  
In this study, the cementation performance of crushed stone in the goat under open-stope mining of the inclined ore body and the stability of the stope below the goat were investigated by means of laboratory experiments, theoretical analysis, and numerical simulation. The conclusions can be summarized as follows:  
1. Through orthogonal experiments in the laboratory, the influences of different factors such as water-cement ratio, crushed-stone particle size, and cement-sand ratio on the strength of the GCB were analyzed. Meanwhile, the optimal ratio of the slurry formed by water, ordinary Portland cement PO42.5 cement, and tailings was determined to be 2.5:1:4 by taking the fluidity of the slurry as another index.
2. At the optimal ratio, cementing tests and mechanical tests were conducted on the crushed stone with the most unfavorable particle size distribution to obtain the mechanical parameters of the GCB under the optimal ratio conditions. Moreover, the determination of the grouting range was converted into the solution of the width of the plastic zone of the surrounding rock in the goat by analyzing the force and action on the GCB in the goat. Ultimately, the cementing width of the GCB was found to be not less than 29 m.
3. The stability of the mining room formed during the mining of the part of the inclined ore body below the goat was explored through numerical simulation. The results suggest that among 30 mining rooms formed in the mining process, 24 mining rooms are in a stable state, and 6 mining rooms are partially damaged on a small scale. As a whole, the GCB formed by grout filling in the goat manages to support the stope below, and it is verified that the theoretical calculation method of the width of the GCB is feasible.  
Figure 21: Plastic zone distribution of the surrounding rock of the mining rooms during the mining of the ore body in the fourth layer. (**a**) After the first mining step. (**b**) After the second mining step.  
Author ContributionsWriting--original draft preparation, Q.G.; project administration, W.G.; writing--review and editing, W.Y.; software, L.L. and C.H. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.  
This research was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (U21A20108 and U22A20620) and the Project of Central Plans Science and Technology Innovation Leading Talents (224200510012).  
Not applicable.  
The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.  
Thank you to the technical personnel at Maionling Gold Mine for providing the original rock samples and engineering site technical assistance.  
Author [PERSON] was employed by the company Henan First Geology and Mineral Survey Institute Co., Ltd. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.