Search Documents

By Patrick D. McLaughlin, C Fordham

"The project outlined in the accompanying paper was to densify beach sands on the pond side ofa tailings dyke to the strength required for future dyke construction, This was to be achievedthrough the detonation of relatively small explosive charges in the sand to cause settlement intoa denser state."

Jan 1, 1992

By Manuel Villalobos Calderón

This paper presents the Enaex group approach to addressing the blasting challenges and outlines the solutions created. Aspects such as rock mass damage occurrence as a function of blast vibration frequency content has been studied, as well as the development of blasting methodologies for guaranteeing the full 100% extraction of all infrastructure blasts, including the all-important drawbell volumes. The development of such infrastructure volumes in one single event using electronic detonators and the associated achievement of ambitious productivity goals, are described as a critical part of the successful construction of one of the most ambitious UG projects currently present on the world.

Feb 1, 2020

By Tom Watts

This paper will focus on the design, manufacture and use of pump safety systems on MMUs (Mobile Manufacturing Units – Bulk Trucks) with progressive cavity pumps. The practice of pumping bulk blasting agents is highly regulated and the explosives manufactures have done an excellent job of hazard and operability studies allowing criteria to be established for the safe pumping.

Jan 1, 2009

By Tristan Worsey

This work was performed during the summer of 2008 during the junior year of a BS in Mining Engineering. It was observed that the mine was having a problem with back break during the blasting of development drifts. The unwanted back break was causing the mine extra costs in ventilation, ore dilution, ground support, back fill, explosives and man-hours. The blasting practices were observed for four weeks and the problems and their solutions were defined. In this paper the reasons and causes of the problem are explained with the proposed solutions to eliminate back break.

Jan 1, 2010

By Nan Lee, Stephen H. Chung, Peter Lienberger

INCO Limited's Thompson Open Pit has researched extensively into improved blasting techniques towards increased productivity as well as optimum pit wall protection. Blasting with excessive amounts of explosives near the pit wall can induce severe back-break, new cracks and opening-up of existing joints in the wall. These ill effects can reduce the wall slope stability and restrict mining activities.

Jan 1, 1992

By Timothy D. Stark

Blasters are usually strictly liable for injury or damage caused by flyrock (trespassory invasion) and blast-induced vibrations (non-trespassory invasion). The application of strict liability to non-trespassory invasions has resulted in significant litigation that has hampered the use of blasting and the blasting industry. Stark (2002) proposes that blasters should not be held strictly liable for non-trespassory invasions but should be liable only if their conduct is proven to be negligent. This change in legal standard was proposed because improvements in blasting technology over the last thirty years allow blasting to be conducted without substantial risk of harm to property and thus the amount of harm imposed by a blast can be related to the level of care exercised by the blaster. It is anticipated that negligence standard will reduce the amount of litigation because a plaintiff will have a greater burden to overcome. To facilitate the acceptance of negligence standard by a court of law, this paper illustrates the application of the negligence and strict tort liability frameworks using actual cases in which a decision was rendered. It is evident from these cases that some of the successful claims under the strict liability framework would not have been successful, and probably not litigated, under a negligence framework, which could result in substantial cost savings to the blasting industry and consumers.

Jan 1, 2004

By Greg J. Stach, Norman "Skip" Hale

The authors describe the development of an overburden blast casting program in the upper seam of coal at a 2-seam surface mining operation on property adjacent to an active operating underground coal mine. Control of vibration is essential.

Jan 1, 1984

By W Russell

The Hercudet Non-Electric Delay Blasting Cap System provides a means of achieving greater flexibility in the use of delays, using totally enclosed gas detonation circuits which eliminate the concussive effects of detonating cord trunklines in the confinement of access tunnels beneath pillars of ore. This is an account of one such pillar blast.

Jan 1, 1985

By Doug Wathen, Philip M. E Thomas

The City of Fort Myers needed to replace a 40-year old 42-inch storm sewer line in downtown Fort Myers with a new 54-inch line to accommodate population growth. The old line had to be kept operational while a new line was installed. The contractor spent two months using a drop ball, a hoe ram, and large rippers trying to break the three to four feet of rock that needed to be removed to accmmodate the new pipe. Mechanical trenching was considered but was proven to be overly expensive. On very short notice, Ireco of Florida was asked to design and execute a blasting procedure that would allow this project to proceed. Nearby buildings were over 80 years old, three of them containing antique shops specializing in glass antiquities with attorney offices above them. High water table compounded problem with a 20-year old steel water main and clay drainage pipe 15 feet frcan the new sewer line. Holes had to be drilled within six inches of the edge of the existing pipe to four feet below the pipe on either side of the pipe and blasted. No interruption in the sewer line flow was to be tolerated.

Jan 1, 1996

By Adam T. Young

This paper will describe the process of using low density bulk emulsion as a means to maximize the production of an oversize or “rip rap” aggregate size range (8 inch to 72 inch) that the quarry customer has a market demand for. It will also discuss the pre-blast and post-blast metrics used during the product trials and evaluation.

Jan 1, 2017

By Paul V. Sterk, James Wieser

Mining in underground situations requires constant change due to changing ore bodies and economics. The Homestake Mine in its 122 years of existence has gone through numerous changes due to these factors. Recent sustained low prices in gold and ore bodies that are smaller or within mined out areas have forced the mine to reevaluate how these ore blocks will be mined. This paper will describe the design, drilling, and blasting of a complex ore block using the blind raise uphole bulk mining method.

Jan 1, 1999

By Marilena Cardu, Mauricio Dompiri, Jacopo Seccatore

Blasting in geological bodies is an industrial process acting in an environment characterized by high uncertainties (natural joints, faults, voids, abrupt structural changes), which are transposed into the process parameters (e.g. energetic transfer to rock mass, hole deviations, misfires, vibrations, fly-rock...). The approach to this problem searching for the “optimum” result can be ineffective. The geological environment is marked out by too many uncertainties, to have an “optimum” suitable to different applications. Researching for “Robustness” in a blast design gives rise to much more efficiency. Robustness is the capability of the system to behave constantly under varying conditions, without leading to unexpected results. Since the geology varies from site to site, and often from bench to bench on each site, setting a robust method can grant better results in varying environments, lowering the costs and increasing benefits and safety.

Jan 1, 2011

By Dr. Bronwynne Victor, Quentin Steyl, D. Scott Scovira

Bulk emulsions and emulsion blends may be formulated with a single salt, dual salts, or multiple salts. Blasting professionals familiar with single salt ammonium nitrate emulsion products may be less acquainted with dual and multiple salt emulsion products that may include calcium nitrate, sodium nitrate, and urea in their formulations.

Feb 1, 2020

By R. F. Favreau, Patrice Favreau

In many quarries and construction sites visited by the authors over the last 50 years, the latter have observed muck piles from blasting with explosives, which included numerous large blocks, in some cases of dimensions larger than the input to the crusher. The names of these sites cannot be given in the article because the owners insist that data obtained on such visits be kept confidential. Often the blasters felt that the natural fissures in the rock would compensate for the use of a low powder factor, and they asked the authors to explain why such blocks were present. A detailed analysis of the situation often indicated that the cause of the blocks is that explained by figures such as 6 and 7 below in the article.

Jan 1, 2018

By R. F. Favreau, Patrice Favreau

"Ever since we have started to assist those responsible for blasting with blast simulation studies, we havebecome aware of an interesting aspect, namely that in 90 % of cases we are asked ‘‘Can you seek ablasting method which gives better fragmentation than the method which we use now’’. But after a visit to the site, and the evaluation of the fragmentation obtained with their present blasting method, it very often becomes evident that it is the ease of mucking and not the fragmentation which requires improvement. Hence we then proceed to do a simulation study the results of which are improved mucking rather then more fragmentation, and those responsible for the blasting always become very satisfied."

Jan 1, 2017

By G. A. Walsh, M. Timm, S. M. Geerts

This paper will discuss the effectiveness and the general use of improvised shaped charges. Testing was conducted by the New Mexico Tech Student Chapter of ISEE and held at EMRTC. The first series of tests conducted was to illustrate the performance of different features of the shaped charge. A PVC pipe filled with C4 with no cavity, PVC with an unlined conical cavity, PVC with a copper lined conical cavity and no standoff, and lastly a PVC pipe with a copper lined cavity and a 1.5 cone diameter standoff.

Jan 1, 2010

By L. Muñoz, L. Steffen, W. Vilas

The emission of particulate material is one of the several parameters related to environmental control in mining operations near communities. Blasting is an event that generates and leaves a large amount of dust in suspension, which can cause discomfort to communities, generating complaints that can compromise the operational continuity of the mine. The proper management of these environmental impacts is a key factor to ensure a good relationship with the neighborhoods, making a responsible mining in harmony with the environment, giving sustainability to the mining business in the medium and long term. The main goal of this work is to present different techniques and technologies applied in a large-scale open pit mine in Brazil, with operations close to a community, to minimize the emissions of particulate material into the atmosphere. For this, different technical solutions were implemented. First, a non-conventional blasting technique was introduced that incorporates special charging and timing configurations, generating a first upper layer that serves as a blanket to contain a second, higher-energy lower layer. An optimal stemming was also defined in order to minimize ejections and maximize cratering, using the scaled depth of burial theory as well as video and fragmentation analysis. In addition, changes were made in the timing between decks (to guarantee a minimum time between layers) and between holes (changing the initiation point opposite to the free face). Finally, additional measures such as humidification of the bench, use of a wind vane to identify wind direction and the construction of a physical barrier between the mine and the community were implemented as additional mitigation measures. By applying the above techniques together, in some specific zones of the mine, it was possible to considerably reduce the ejections generated by blasting versus conventional blasting without the above measures, which was demonstrated in the field with dual blasts trials. Additionally, it was possible to achieve a vibration reduction in the community of ~30%. This work demonstrates how, by applying these technical solutions, it was possible to minimize the dust and vibrations generated by blasting allowing this operation to do sustainable mining

Jan 1, 2024

By Hans Perlid

In the handling of emulsion explosives pumping is a key operation. A number of serious accidents has shown that pumping can be a risky operation and should be care&lIy considered and investigated. This is the background behind a series of pump tests carried out by NTTRO NOBEL.

Jan 1, 1996

By Eric C. Gerst

"In this current era of soft commodity and coal prices the mining industry is turning towards optimizingall levels of production to reduce operating costs. Part of this trend includes the automation of miningmachines. As the first tier of the mining process blast hole drill automation offers benefits through the entire value stream from drill bench to material processing."

Jan 1, 2017

By Joe Atalla, Leojenen Etulle, Jesse Desrochers, Joseph Mukendi Kabuya, Remi Proulx, Ruilin Yang

The Mont-Wright mine is Canada's largest open-pit iron ore mine with multiple open pits in operation. It is operated by ArcelorMittal Mining Canada in the northeast of the province of Quebec, near the town of Fermont. Fragmentation of rocks with explosives generates vibrations and gas expansion that damage intact rocks, affect existing crack networks, reduce the shear strength of discontinuities and the quality of the rock mass of the highwalls. The efficiency of its blasting operations is challenged by the need to optimize production and manage the risk of mine slope instability caused by vibrations from successive blasts. This paper presents a Multiple Seed Waveform (MSW) vibration model that was established at the mine for this purpose. Near-field signature hole blast vibration monitoring was conducted in multiple areas to establish site characterization as input to the blast vibration modeling at the highwalls of the site. The vibration attenuation laws were established and the effects of different blasthole diameters, shifting frequencies and presplit design were evaluated. Based on the results obtained from the near-field blast vibration monitoring, the calibrated MSW vibration model was used to select blast design parameters to control blast vibration while maximizing productivity of blasts at Mont-Wright mine.

Jan 26, 2026