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By Robert Pumpelly

During my nearly 30 years with ATF, (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives), I conducted hundreds of inspections. In many cases hours of time were wasted because the licensee or permittee, who had basically done everything right, was not prepared for the audit. In these cases, required documents were scattered, personnel were unprepared and no plan was in place. This paper will provide some simple steps to avoid these embarrassing delays. A list of common violations is also provided.

Jan 1, 2010

By Robert Hopler

GEO. M. MOWBRAY’S REFRIGERATOR CAR FOR THE SAFE CONVEYANCE OF EXPLOSIVES. It is a fact well known to all miners who have used nitro-glycerin, or any of its adulterations, commonly known as dynamite, rendrock, Hercules’ powder, dualin, vigorite, etc., that when congealed, these compounds cannot be exploded, and in this congealed state — say at temperatures below 40° F. — they can be handled with no more danger than a box of soap or a can of lard. If, then, the atmosphere by which this class of explosives is surrounded, during transportation, be maintained below 40° F., explosion is practically annihilated. Therefore, I constructed a refrigerator car, with cells for every box of the explosive; and two years of railroad transportation confirms our ten years’ experience in teaming in wagons, that this class of explosives can be transported in perfect safety, as above described.

Jan 1, 2011

By Frank Hirthammer

Since the introduction of the Explosives Track & Trace in Europe in 2014 for manufacturers and 2015 for end-users, a lot has changed in all areas of the supply chain and the use of explosives. The regional associations, manufacturers' organizations, and trade associations have proven that it is possible to overcome a hurdle, that looks almost impossible in the beginning, through consistent cooperation. The paper gives an insight into the problems involved in introducing such a requirement, identifies ways and solutions, and concludes them. When looking at the current situation, the paper describes the process by which a prescribed change in business processes are transforming into a solution that increases productivity, security, and handling.

Feb 1, 2020

By Lon D. Santis

This paper describes a lightning warning system (LWS) in operation at the U.S. Bureau of Mines' (USBM) Pittsburgh Research Center (PRC) from December, 1989 to April, 1991. An electric field mill measured the DC atmospheric electrostatic field. Also, an economical on-line weather data service provided lightning location maps and other weather information. A system such as this can significantly improve the safety of explosive handling. The use of these two methods addresses the detection of thunderclouds building overhead and the prediction and tracking of developed storms. Warning reliability of the system was very good when data from both sources were considered. Experience showed, however, that use of either system alone would not provide adequate reliability in most situations. Some problems occurred with the field mill and there is some question whether the instrument is compatible with harsh mining environments or could be made portable. Another method ' of measuring electric field based on fiber optics is discussed. This technology may be able to overcome the problems with field mills.

Jan 1, 1993

By Frank Hirthammer

Since the introduction of the Explosives Track & Trace in Europe in 2014 for manufacturers and 2015 for end-users, a lot has changed in all areas of the supply chain and the use of explosives. The regional associations, manufacturers' organizations, and trade associations have proven that it is possible to overcome a hurdle, that looks almost impossible in the beginning, through consistent cooperation. The paper gives an insight into the problems involved in introducing such a requirement, identifies ways and solutions, and concludes them. When looking at the current situation, the paper describes the process by which a prescribed change in business processes are transforming into a solution that increases productivity, security, and handling. It shows examples from daily work, in which possibilities for optimization, improved quality assurance, and work facilitation are explained. It presents the resulting potential by comparing process flows, before and after the introduction of Track & Trace solutions. What challenges will we face in the future concerning the use of T&T solutions? Will the tracking of explosives become the norm worldwide? What are future hardware and software developments to be expected? What impact will this have on the global supply chain?

By W. L. Saunders, Richard T. Dana

The dynamites are graded according to the percentage of nitroglycerin that they contain. Thus a “40% powder” would be one in which the sticks, weighing one-half pound each, would include one-fifth of a pound of pure nitroglycerin. Dynamite is usually packed in paper cartridges weighing about one-half pound each which will vary in diameter. When ordering, it is customary to specify a size of cartridge that will as nearly as possible fill the drill hole, the commonest size being 1 ¼” in diameter by 8” in length. It is nearly always shipped in 50-lb. boxes, which have a volumetric capacity of 3/4 cu.ft.

Jan 1, 2013

By Leslie C. Taylor, Anthony L. Kee

Computational modeling of explosively loaded saturated sand on a suspended plate is an inherently complex problem. In this study a computational method is used to predict the dynamic pressure load/impulse from a buried charge. A fully coupled code modeling the explosive charge, sand and air with a Eulerian mesh and the plate structure with Lagrange elements, such as Gemini-Dyna, is an appropriate computational tool. In water-saturated sand, the loadings are soil and water-transmitted shock and bubble or blast effects depending on the depth and the charge size. The computations provide the capability to determine the total impulse load placed on a horizontal plate on or above the soil due to an explosion in the saturated sand for different burial depths in saturated sand and different plate stand off distances. The following test case will be presented: (a) 4.5 Kg (10 lbs) TNT, 10.16 cm (4 in) depth of burial to top of charge, and 20.32 cm (8 inch) stand off distance (Test 4).

Jan 1, 2005

By Scott Rosenthal, Kyle Murphy

This paper discusses the trials and tribulations of obtaining Velocity of Detonation (VOD) readings in small diameter blast holes in an underground mine.

Feb 1, 2020

By J P. Tidman, I J. Kirby, G H. Harries

The SABREX computer model is based on the fact that both shock waves and gas pressure are important in describing a blast. The treatment of explosive-rock interactions includes the influence of non-ideal detonation to make use of recent advances in that field. Details of the blast layout are defined from a comprehensive list of conditions the blaster can control (drill pattern, charging and hook-up). The program gives practical and graphic information about fragmentation, muckpile, damage and costs.

Jan 1, 1987

By Radhe Krishna, Mutale William Chanda, Timothy Mwale

Blasting as a process is the emplacement of industrial explosives into blast holes suitably located to a free surface and detonated. Every blast hole containing a certain amount of explosive charge undergoes impulsive loading when detonated and results in the dynamic transfer of a powerful shock wave to the surrounding rock. It is the shock wave that brings about rock breakage when the tensile stress produced upon reflecting from the change in material density or free face overcomes that of rock material tensile strength. However, this shock wave comes along with unwanted destructive consequences such as damage to remaining rock, ground vibration, noise and fly rock. The above mentioned consequences pose a great threat to the Community of Wusakile, Kitwe as Mopani Copper Mines Plc wishes to increase its production by expanding the pit towards the community that lies within 150 m (164 yd) from the pit rim. As a requirement from the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA), all blasting operations close to the community must maintain at least below the maximum vibration threshold of 10 mm/s (0.3937 in/s) PPV-Peak Particle Velocity or else risk closure of the mine (AMC,2009). In order to satisfy the above statement, a good understanding of explosives is required. This paper therefore presents the phenomenology of rock breakage by explosives with much emphasis on electronic blasting and how best this process can be controlled in densely populated communities. Factors affecting maximum projection distance such as, size of the fragment, shape of the fragment, angle of projection, the state of confinement of an explosive charge, were also studied. In addition, design faults, deviation in implementation and unforeseen geological conditions were also considered. The paper discusses the above facts based on research.

Jan 1, 2015

By Rob Farnfield, Ben Williams, Bob Woolley

This paper outlines how drilling safety standards are being driven forward in the United Kingdom’s surface mining and quarrying industry with developments in equipment, procedures and competence.

Jan 1, 2010

By Frank Hirthammer

"Nowadays, security in the lifecycle of explosives is more important than ever. Terror attacks all over theworld pushed the EU to decree a Commission Directive for the identification and traceability of explosives that set a series of requirements for involved manufacturers, distributors and end-users. The challenge was to find and implement a track and trace system for all concerned European companies byApril 5, 2015. Since then, countries worldwide have followed this example and implemented similarregulations."

Jan 1, 2017

By Christopher Laughton

A new underground laboratory is under construction at the recently closed Homestake Gold Mine, Lead South Dakota, United States of America. The Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory is designed to meet the needs of an international group of scientists and engineers interested in conducting fundamental and applied research at depth in the Earth’s crust.

Jan 1, 2011

By G. Walsh, L. Wolkovitch, A. Savage, V. Romero, T. Zimmerly, G. Imahara, J. Hyneman, K. Byron, D Tapster, S. Belleci, J. Metzger, M. Stanley

Testing was conducted at the Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center for the MythBusters on three separate occasions. This testing included (1) an experiment designed to create diamond from graphite using the shock and pressure of a detonation, (2) the flattening of a car using a steel plate driven by a rocket sled, and (3) the bifurcation of a car also using a rocket sled. All tests were successful; diamond was produced following the detonation of ANFO, and extracted from a graphite / cobalt matrix. A plate was accelerated to 646 mph (1040 km/hr) using a two-stage sled system loaded with 5” (12.7 cm) high velocity aircraft rockets (HVAR) into a car, which was subsequently demolished. Finally, a steel wedge was pushed to 541 mph (871 km/hr) by a one stage sled using HVAR rockets, and was able to cleanly cut a target car in half.

Jan 1, 2010

By William. J. Birch, Catherine. E. Johnson, Robert Farnfield

Rocks and other materials can be characterized by their elastic properties. However, seismic velocities represent a more practical set of physical properties for seismic methods. Seismic velocities define the speed at which various elastic deformations propagate through different rock types. Seismic velocities for a given material can be expressed explicitly in terms of their elastic properties. It is widely accepted that the peak particle velocity and associated frequency of ground motion are important parameters for determining a safety criterion to minimise the potential for both damage to structures as well as nuisance to people. Whilst the key considerations are the blast design parameters, the seismic velocity is important as particle velocity is dependent in part on the powder factor [blasting ratio] which in turn is found to be dependent on the seismic velocity.

Feb 6, 2023

By Ravi Sahu, Kris Jeremiah

This paper aims to study the benefits of using Post Processed Kinematics(PPK) surveying methodology combined with Drone photogrammetry to achieve highly precise positioning (X, Y, Z) of drill holes based on the drill pattern and to highlight innovative workflow of transmitting the drill plan to smart drills for accurate drilling.

Feb 1, 2020

By Pavel A. Torres, Darwin Torres, Sandro Huaman

Given the limited efficiency of blast-induced ground vibrations prediction empirical models, due to the complex geological system from a Peruvian mine. An artificial neural network was built in order to get better results. More accurate and precise predictions allowed the generation of blasting domains for future designs and decision making.

Feb 1, 2020

By Jorge Cárdenas, Luis Huaroc, Máximo Cari, Nestor Delgado

In Peru, after four years of pandemic, some mining companies have chosen to install integrated operating centers in central offices where through network technology and video surveillance it allows them to carry out their activities remotely, this has become a disruptive strategy to promote a safer and smarter mining industry. Our fundamental value is to improve the quality of life, safety and well being of our collaborators, that is why we have created the remote blasting engineering control center " Core" that allows us to humanize mining. Core is an integration of experience, security, technology, quality of life and artificial intelligence; it has media technology connected directly to the mining operation, specialist engineers and technical assistants in team they seek to create optimal proposals of drilling and blasting designs remotely that generate added value to customers. In the planning process the team suggests drilling meshes, in the loading process there are optimized, digitized designs and efficiency in the factory trucks finally in the safety process allows us to identify inadequate pipes within the blasting project, deviation of procedures, remote inspections, identify operating conditions to prevent future risks that may arise in the blasting process. The remote communication systems allow you to monitor mining operations remotely to identify and alert any operational or security deviation that was not identified by the personnel present in the operation, as well as to store images in case investigations are required. The results obtained have allowed us to reduce the exposure of personnel to any risk of the mining operation, to optimize times in the activities of our engineers who are in the mining operations since there is the permanent support of centralized specialists to face every challenge that arises in the operation, for the engineers who are in the offices of Core can be very close to the family and do not lose it, and for our customers it is to meet their needs with engineers specialists in the drilling and blasting process, as well as in safety to be able to proactively cope with any deviation that arises.

Jan 21, 2025

By Denise Clarke

Homeland Security Qualifications (HSQ) personnel were instrumental in developing the UK’s suite of Explosive Substances and Articles (ESA) National Occupational Standards (NOS) (also known as "competences") on behalf of the Standards Setting Body for Explosives, Munitions and Search Occupations (SSB for EMSO).

Jan 1, 2013

By S. Klerkx, R Battulwar, J Valencia, J Sattarvand, E Emami, M. Soleymani Shishvan

A new technology for energy distribution optimization, supported by NIOSH.

Feb 1, 2020