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By Ekin Güngor, Berkant Ozdemir, Erkan Bayrak, Serdar Ergün, Sedat Esen

"This paper presents the final wall blasting practices at Eldorado Kisladag Gold Mine in Turkey. Benchmark and improved wall control designs were explained in detail. Kisladag Mine has been implementing a high quality slope stability program on-site. The quality of pit walls is generally considered excellent, with very few wall failures being evident and with presplit hole barrels prominent in most areas of the pit. However, a minor scale slope failure occurred recently at the north-east section the pit. A project was initiated to diagnose the cause of the crest loss and evaluate ways to limit its effect on final walls. Final wall blasting practices and geotechnical designs were evaluated. The work presented in this paper showed that changes to the blasting and geotechnical parameters are required atthe north-east section of the pit. Geotechnical design changes were 10 m bench heights with 70 ° slope face angle at that specific area. Having implemented several geotechnical and blast design changes (elimination of the subdrill for the catch bench, appropriate primer location, more favorable blast tie-up and delays), the crest loss was minimized significantly (<1.5 m) (<5 ft)."

Jan 1, 2017

By Matias Suarez, Diego Zenteno

This paper is aimed to display the new advancements of blasting engineering done in different mining sites throughout the country, associated to electronic sequencing, energy of the explosive and its impact on the fragmented rock. This document explains how to define and implement selective sequencing in the blasting in order to promote the propagation of cracks, therefore impacting positively the productivity through the use of the LaGrange diagram. The LaGrange diagram is a very convenient and illustrative method to present the dynamic behavior associated with wave and crack propagation (Rossmanith. H, 2002).

Feb 1, 2020

By Michelle Crull, Susan Hamilton

Explosives safety requirements in the United States began in 1909 when the American Railroad Institute questioned explosives manufacturers regarding distances necessary to protect employees and property. In response to this inquiry, a group of explosives manufacturers collaborated to study over 200 explosive accidents. This study resulted in the 1914 American Table of Distance (ATD) published by the Institute of Makers of Explosives (IME). The 1914 ATD provided suggested separations between explosives and inhabited buildings, public highways, and public railways.

Jan 1, 2010

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 Nadya Michel, Daniel Gros-Jean

This is a true story. Names have been changed to illustrate the importance and impact of carbon monoxide risk management in explosive blast projects and the community « Honey I’m not feeling good…” “What is going on Michael?” – – Michael was not answering so Julia, who was on the third level of the magnificent house, hurried down the stairs to check up on him in the basement. Today was day 2 of the construction work of the bathroom, yesterday they had excavated all the space for the shower. She started to breathe heavily as she was approaching the bathroom and saw Michael unconscious on the floor. “Michael!” – Julia immediately dialed 911. She opened a window since the air was heavy and went by Michael to hear him breathe and take his pulse. The paramedics took Michael on a stretcher and rushed him to the hospital. “I’m feeling dizzy” she thought to herself a couple of hours after the incident, and heard Matthew say: “Mom, I’m feeling sick”. Suddenly, she felt like she would pass out and felt in danger but couldn’t move. She desperately searched for her cellphone and dialed 911 but couldn’t speak. The dispatcher sent the firefighters and paramedics to the GPS location that was appearing on the screen and the emergency team was alerted that it was a second call in hours at the same address. When the firefighters arrived, they had to force the door to enter and found Julia in her bedroom on the third floor and Anette and Matthew also unconscious in their bedroom, lying on their respective bed. There was no smoke but on their multigas meter, carbon monoxide (CO) peaked at 1500 ppm on every level of the house, which is abnormally high.

Feb 6, 2023

By Scott King, Norm Patterson, Ruilin Yang

The multiple blasthole fragmentation (MBF) model developed by Orica models the contributions from multiple blastholes to fragmentation at any given point in the rock and simulates a production blast with the actual geometry of the blasted overburden and free faces, explosive loading, multiple decking, and delay timing of each explosive charge. The model has been successfully applied to several open pit mines and quarries around the world, including Canada and the United States. The peak particle velocity (PPV) induced in the rock from the explosive detonation is used in the MBF model as the key parameter relating to the size distribution of the rock fragmentation. Relating the PPV to the rock fragmentation is based on earlier work relating the particle velocity to the dynamic strain in rock. A recent publication further revealed that the PPV is related to the maximum relative displacement that induces three dimensional strain at a point in the rock. The model can explicitly model most of the blast design parameters including explosive properties.

Jan 1, 2018

By Robert McClure, Carlton Lehman

Rendering safe explosives in an urban environment presents a unique challenge due to the safety concerns and disruption to the general public. Potential damage to the surrounding homes, businesses, utilities and transportation infrastructure are some of the major concerns when planning the render-safe operation. Engineering controls to mitigate blast effects, such as damaging air over pressure levels, material ejection and ground borne vibration, need to be implemented as part of the operation. Monitoring of seismic and air overpressure during these operations are needed to protect against potential claims when controlled or unplanned detonations occur.

Feb 1, 2020

By Kim Henley, Chris Batten

This paper discusses the use of the Orica WildFireTM flyrock model to help mining operations in Australia and Asia minimise blast exclusion zones for equipment, increasing utilisation and productivity and delivering downstream value

Feb 1, 2020

By John W. Kopp

The U. S. Bureau of Mines investigated flyrock and burden movement from blasting at several limestone and basalt quarries in the upper midwest. Blasts have been studied at 14 different sites using high-speed cinematography. Blasting was accomplished in 75- and 150-mmdiameter holes using a variety of explosives. Films from each blast were analyzed to show burden velocities, observed flyrock distance, and direction of throw in relation to the shot layout. This technique, in some cases, allowed determining point of origin and cause of the flyrock as well as the flyrock range.

Jan 1, 1994

By Cam Grundstrom

The Ok Tedi Mine is a large open pit copper and gold mine located in a remote section of the Western Province, Papua New Guinea, with an annual rainfall of over 10 metres. Ok Tedi mines an average of 205,000 tonnes per day. A strong working co-operation between the mine operator (Ok Tedi Mining Limited) and the explosives contractor (ICI Explosives Asia / Pacific) has led to progressive development of bulk emulsion formulations to meet site-specific needs, continued improvement to blasting applications, and competency based training programs for the national blast crew.

Jan 1, 1997

By Ed Jr Smith, Calvin J. Konya

The purpose of this paper is to describe the case history of a blasting project conducted jointly by Precision Blasting Services and Cherokee Explosives. It is the intent of the authors to show how blasting could be done in controlled fashion near very expensive computer controlled machinery. The job was done in minimal time with no complaints or allegations of damage in spite of the fact that blasting was conducted within five feet of the equipment and with the 32 acre plant fully operational, with machine operators working within 10 feet of the blasting site.

Jan 1, 1986

By Harnish Miller, Scott G. Giltner

One of the concerns with locating radioactive waste storage sites in salt deposits is how to permanently seal the underground storage areas once they have reached their storage capacity. The compaction of salt using explosives has been identified as a potential method of producing permanent seals in both entryways and shafts to storage areas. This paper describes the test procedure and results of a preliminary investigation to determine the feasibility of utilizing explosives in the compaction of salt. Three simple tests were carried out to measure the degree to which loose salt could be compacted.

Jan 1, 1996

By Zhou Jiahan Wang Feng

This paper introduces the mechanism and the operating process of dike building by silt squeezing blasting. DBSSB (dike building by silt squeezing blasting) has the following advantages: shorter construction period (the construction period is decided only by the speed of rock materials filling)greater consolidation of the body of the dike, more structural stability, smaller settlement. Therefore by conventional standards the same dike can be designed with a smaller cross section than other construction methods, and at a reduced cost when enough rock materials can be provided in site.

Jan 1, 2006

By Greg Mclellan, Mark Johnson, John Pepper

In this paper, the measured vibrations are plotted in terms of the individual PPV components versus Scaled Distance (SD) on logarithmic scales. The maximum PPV is pIotted on a separate graph and equations are presented to predict the maximum PPV based on sealed distance and prediction level usmg power fits. The prediction levels include a 99.9% curve, which encompasses the data points and provides an envelope formula for determining the maximum PPV at South Florida sites. The dominant frequency distribution is established for the PPV components.

Jan 1, 2001

By Joseph Trocino, John Anderson, Stephen Murray

This paper describes the development of LEXFOAM® (Liquid EXplosive FOAM) as a unique low density explosive, and its successful application as an effective tool for "in-place" demolition of landmines and unexploded ordnance. Explosives research using aerosol technology led to the development of LEXFOAM whose components are safely transported and stored as flammable liquids. These components are mixed on site to produce an explosive foam, which enhances safety and minimizes logistical problems. Hand-held, Backpack and Palletized Delivery Systems form a versatile family of dispensing systems to suit any application.

Jan 1, 1998

By Rick Lamkie

When investigating citizen complaints about blast vibration and airblast, it is important to be able to establish the spatial relationships between blasts, blasting seismographs monitoring the events, and complainant structures to assess any directional impacts. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) routinely uses hand-held GPS receivers to document these relationships. The waypoint (structures and seismograph monitoring locations) and tracking (blasting and permit areas) features are used to map a site. These data are imported into the software for editing and conversion to GPS Exchange (.gpx) format.

Jan 1, 2008

By Lee Julian

Ground vibrations generated by mine blasting must be controlled to comply with legislation and to protect sensitive local or site infrastructure. The consequences of exceeding imposed limits can range from negative publicity to structural damage to infrastructure. It is imperative that vibrations are controlled without compromising fragmentation and delivery of blasted inventory. General practice is to reduce the charge weight and the blast size as blasting approaches the sensitive structures; however such an approach results in blasting smaller volumes more frequently which places greater pressure on production to meet their targets.

Jan 1, 2014

By Nadir Plasencia, Rogerio: Neves Mota

The evaluation of vibrations induced to build structures is one of the main concerns when dealing with blast works. EDP, the main Portuguese producer of electricity is presently incrementing energy production in some old hydropower dams by installing new production plants. The need for not disrupting production during the upgrading works causes some concerns related with vibrations induced to the production engines. Vibration estimation was performed in two of these dams, constructed in a granite environment, by performing controlled blasts. For each dam site, some vibration transmissivity laws were developed with the fitting process.

Jan 1, 2008

By Kenneth Medearis

The accurate prediction of possible damage to historic structures subjected to blasting-related ground motions is not infrequently the dominant factor in whether or not a mining or quarrying operation is allowed to proceed. A recent scenario involving an 1802 Pennsylvania Historic House was resolved satisfactorily, primarily because of the use of modern structural dynamics analysis techniques rather than simplistic peak particle velocity guidelines. One of the associated dominating factors was the truly significant agreement of the analysis results and the values obtained from actual on-site test shot blast motion recordings.

Jan 1, 1993

By Patrick Cahill, Jacob Miller, Nolan Mundwiller, Catherine Johnson

"The Experimental Mine at the Missouri University of Science and Technology is undergoing major developments. The underground workings are being expanded to include a ramp down to a second level which will comprise of larger opening and room sizes to better simulate modern mine layouts. Thisexpansion will enable the Experimental Mine to be utilized for many more generations. In addition, the new 15,000 sq. ft. Kennedy Mine Building is being constructed and will house the mine office,classrooms, and three laboratories to accommodate the mining and explosives engineering programs’ ever-increasing enrollment. With these new developments come an increasing need for safety and awareness in regards to explosives and blasting. This paper will utilize the Institute of ExplosivesMakers Safety Analysis of Risk (IMESAFR) software tool, to assess current magazine compliance withthe increased personnel limits and mine building location. Furthermore, this paper will assess theimplementation of a wireless blast warning system consisting of warning beacons and a centrally located siren which will be integrated with the construction of the Kennedy Mine Building. This warning system will provide the necessary precautions to safely conduct blasting-related experiential learningopportunities and research projects, and will enable facility staff to more efficiently oversee blastingoperations at the Experimental Mine. "

Jan 1, 2017