In steeply inclined thin ore bodies,crown pillars left behind after open stoping present significant safety risks during extraction,as drilling workers operate under increasingly thin pillars,leading to a high likelihood of large-area roof collapses.To avoid these risks,high-grade primary ore pillars are often permanently left in place,resulting in significant resource wastage.To safely and efficiently recover these crown pillars,a vertical strip mining process is proposed.This paper provides a detailed explanation of the method’s cutting layout for preliminary mining,recovery process,and key technical and economic indicators.Industrial application on-site has shown that this method maximizes the recovery of crown pillars while minimizing the exposed area after roof removal,thereby ensuring high safety.The per-shift for unit machine productivity increased from 15.4 t to 23.3 t,an improvement of 51.3 %.The mining loss rate decreased from 62 % to 5.3 %,a reduction of 91.5 % compared to the original mining method,yielding excellent technical and economic results.This process can be promoted in similar mines.