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By Zhiwei Jiao, Ziqing Guo, Mushen Wang, Yueda Fang, Qiuming Tang

In order to achieve anti-terrorism, production safety, better explosive performance, lower cost, and environment protection, we developed HMS (emulsification in borehole).Long-process PM (plant-mixed) and SM (site-mixed) emulsion trucks are reviewed and compared to a new type of short-process HM (hole-mixed) truck for onsite emulsion manufacturing. The short-process HM truck has demonstrated many advantages over its PM and SM counterparts in areas such as process safety and security, energy efficiency and environmental impacts: 1) No emulsion matrix is manufactured in the plant, transported on public roads, or even present on the surfaces of blasting job sites. Such characteristics are certainly beneficial in eliminating risks of the product being diverted and used by unlawful players; 2) This short-process involves "micro-fluid control to form super oil phase-rich" in tubular emulsification process, making it intrinsically safe; 3) There is basically no residual matrix left in the truck or on the job site to clean up, which greatly reduces environmental impact of the process; 4) Comparing with typical PM and SM trucks, the HM truck has eliminated the needs of many power equipment and critical pump pressure for turbulent flow forming a static emulsification with super oil phase -rich is only 0.2Mpa. These is therefore quite energy efficient.

Feb 1, 2020

By Duane Skidmore, Francis Otuonye, Calvin J. Konya

Proper stemming not only affects the rock breakage process, but also controls the unwanted side effects of blasting such as airblast, ground vibration, and flyrock. Little research has been conducted on the behavior of borehole stemming material under high pressure loading conditions. The methods of selecting stemming particle size and necessary stemming length were previously determined only by trial and error in the field.

Jan 1, 1982

By Robert Hopler

209. Nitro-glycerine is produced by the action of nitric and sulphuric acids on glycerine, and is a heavy liquid of oily appearance, of specific gravity about 1•6, varying from colourless when quite pure to a yellow or brownish yellow. It is of a very sweet taste, and without odour, and is an active poison. Mere handling of it will in most persons induce sickness and headache. It explodes when heated to about 360° F. or from shock, but in small quantities it ignites and burns with some difficulty by the mere contact of flame.

Jan 1, 2011

By Stuart Brashear, Robert Brush, Ben Cook

In early 1993, the Piney River quarry owned and operated by the Blue Ridge Stone Corporation of W.W. Boxley, received a series of complaints from the owners of a 130 year-old historic farmhouse that had been converted into a bed and breakfast establishment. Since the distance from the quarry to the farmhouse was substantial, a unique method of seismic data acquisition was utilized to determine if perceived blast effects were caused by air blast or low amplitude, low frequency ground vibration.

Jan 1, 1995

By Henry P. Jr Van Ormer

During any blast hole operation the first choice to be made is hole size - it seems simple, just calculate all the factors, spacing, burden, depth, rock characteristics, powder factor, etc. and you have it - Hole Size. But we all know that it is not that easy - the "hole size" is part of a system and many other situations can have great impact on the optimum production Blast Hole Size - such as crusher characteristics, hauling capability, mucking capability and - Drilling Capability!

Jan 1, 1983

By J Lyall Workman, Peter N. Calder

"Presplitting is a technique mines and quarries may use to produce high quality final pitwalls. Damage from backbreak can be minimized, thereby insuring the final pit walls standat the designed angle. Thus costly excess waste removal is avoided. Safety in the pit isenhanced. Control blasting is an essential component of procedures to maintain the stabilityof final pit walls prone to failure."

Jan 1, 1993

By Bjorn Engsbraten

Explosive charges have been fired under defined conditions in a closed tunnel. The explosives have either been detonated in a steel tube or a single borehole. In the latter case dimensions, -loading density and confinement have been chosen to correspond to common practice.

Jan 1, 1980

By Travis A. Davidson, Ralph E. Burnham, Cathy Aimone-Martin, J. Kelly Ratliff

Blasters face a long list of tasks to execute daily—from vehicle inspections to blast design and layout, hole loading and tie-in, securing the site, and finally, safely executing the blast. Good practices and, in most cases, regulations and requirements necessitate documenting their work, specifically their blast report. While some blasters use paper forms, others use electronic means to streamline the process. The authors have served as attorneys and expert witnesses in representing companies and individual blasters in numerous administrative and legal matters in which documentation of the blaster’s work was both critical and detrimental to the effectiveness of defending their work. This paper discusses in a case-study manner the authors' observations concerning good blast report format, specific observations around electronic and paper report completion, record-keeping, seismograph setup and recordkeeping, video and photo documentation, internal auditing, and other topics related to documenting the blast. The paper aims to serve as a discussion guide for blasters to improve their blast record-keeping process, develop better practices that effectively document their work, and allow them to defend their work should a claim arise concerning their operations.

Jan 21, 2025

By D T. Froedge

This paper is a presentation of a coyote shot at the Oriskany Sand Quarry of the Pennsylvania Glass Sand Corporation, Berkeley Springs, West Virginia.

Jan 1, 1982

By Roger Holmberg, William Hustrulid

Swedish cautious blasting techniques were used to excavate a room at the CSM Experimental Mine in Idaho Springs, Colorado,as part of a ONWI/DOE sponsored nuclear waste disposal research program.

Jan 1, 1981

By Goran Lande, Bernt Larsson, Dennis Clark

The effects of vibrations on close surroundings has been studied in Europe and the United States extensively in the past three to four years due to the ever increasing demands of environmental control. Therefore, "routine measurements" or "standard vibration consulting services" are being carried out by numerous firms with widely different qualifications.

Jan 1, 1983

By Dirk Voogt, Quentin Steyl, D. Scott Scovira

A South Africa iron ore mine reported a decline in blast performance and ore and waste fragmentation. Preliminary investigation by the explosives services company found that the straight gassed bulk emulsion was breaking down and collapsing inside of some loaded slept blastholes. The bulk emulsion loaded at the subject site was manufactured in country and shipped to various clients throughout the region, with normal function in blasts at other sites. Historically, the bulk formulation emulsion being used at the subject mine site also performed well and without issue. This raised the question, “why is this bulk emulsion now breaking down and not firing in blastholes?”. Iron ore mines are not typically associated with reactive or acidic ground, and ground sample reactivity testing against the emulsion confirmed this. So, if not reactive ground or acidic water, then what is causing the emulsion to breakdown?

Feb 6, 2023

By E. Contestabile, B. von Rosen, P. Lightfoot

As part of an accident investigation ANFO was subjected to various abusive tests. A tractor-trailer carrying 18,000 kg of blasting explosives, caught fire, burned for approximately 30 minutes, and then detonated. A series of tests was designed to observe the behaviour of ANFO when subjected to different thermal stimulus tests and more specifically, the Height-to-Detonation Test. Three diameters of steel pipes were used in the Height-to-Detonation Tests thereby simulating cylindrical columns within a pile of ANFO. The ANFO samples were then subjected to various thermal stimuli to initiate a reaction. Through the use of some instrumentation, the response of large ANFO samples was recorded and its behaviour, including the occurrence of phase changes will be analysed.

Jan 1, 2001

By D E. Shaw, J B. Case, J Gusek

Explosive casting of overburden is defined as the use of explosives in blasting to move overburden to a spoil pile without rehandling. Studies of the economic feasibility of the method, and the formulation of a design hypothesis involving rock properties, and blasthole geometry are presented. These studies indicate that if technical feasibility can be demonstrated to increase surface coal production, considerable economic advantage would accrue to coal mine operators.

Jan 1, 1980

By Carlos Campos Junior, Leonardo Soares Chaves, Raul Carretero Hoz, Renato Jacome Costa, Davi Bastos Martins de Oliveira

The Vale’s Serra Sul mine, also known as S11D project, is one of the world’s largest open pit iron ore mines, located in Brazil’s Amazon region. The mine produces around 90 Mt of high-quality iron ore annually. Its unique orebody enabled the S11D project to adopt a truckless mining system with In-Pit Crushing and Conveying (IPCCs) for ore exploitation and waste stripping. The IPCCs system requires crushing the waste, mainly composed by the jaspilite lithology, and is also conveyed to waste deposits several kilometers away from the mine. Due to Amazon’s environmental restrictions, the project was designed with preliminary geological knowledge, leading to the installation of primary crushers not designed for the hardest jaspilite, with uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) up to 500 MPa. This resulted in low waste crushing performance, affecting stripping ratio and threatening future production. A project was developed to improve the fragmentation of the jaspilite, allowing higher waste IPCC production, and reducing the risk to the production due to low performance of waste crushing and conveying. The first challenge was the independence of the geological and the geomechanical models, while only the geological model was considered in blast designs, the geomechanical model describes six waste groups of jaspilite classified according to their strength. A new geological model was then created to incorporate the geomechanical classification, allowing different blasting design according to the rock strength of the jaspilite. The blasting pattern on most compact jaspilite was reduced 27%, from 22m² to 16m² in 9 7/8” diameter holes, with a proposed theoretical reduction of 23% of the P80, from 326mm to 250mm. The second challenge was the implementation of the new design, as this pattern size and the high powder factor (2.9 kg/m3) were paradigms for such a large iron ore mine. The measured results have shown 25% reduction of the P80, the crushing rate was increased by 17% (230t/h), saving around $2.4 million annually in crushing and conveying system maintenance.

Jan 21, 2025

By Brian Sandhuas, Robert McClure

All flyrock incidents have the potential to result in injuries or fatalities that can result in loss of company reputation, license to operate with clients, and bear the exposure to high cost liability. From 2007 to 2009, one North American Quarry and Construction Business experienced a series of flyrock incidents. In the spring of 2009, this business declared that the frequency and severity of Flyrock Incidents had reached an unacceptable level. A Flyrock Elimination Program was launched.

Jan 1, 2012

Dear All, I am looking for information about vibrations and effects on fish in pools. A tunnel blast is planned to be carried out as close as 300 meters to a freshwater fish growing plant. What is the vibration criteria for fishes in pools? Your comments will be highly appreciated.

Jan 1, 2012

By Milton Barbosa Landim, Denise de La Corte Bacci

Statistical methods of multiple regression analysis, trend surface analysis and principal components analysis were applied to seismographic data recorded during production blasting at a diabase quarry in the urban area of Campinas (SP), Brazil. The purpose of these analyses was to determine the influence of the following variables: distance @), charge weight per delay (W), and scaled distance (SD) associated with properties of the rock body (orientation, frequency and angle of geological discontinuities; depth of bedrock and thickness of the soil overburden) in the variation of the peak particle velocity (PPV). This approach yielded variables with larger influences (loads) on the variation of ground vibration, as well as behavior and space tendency of this variation. The results showed a better relationship between PPV and D, with D being the most important factor in the attenuation of the ground vibrations. The geological joints and the depth to bedrock have a larger influence than the explosive charges in the variation of the vibration levels, but frequencies appear to be more influenced by the amount of soil overburden.

Jan 1, 2002

By Evan Jannoulakis, Wilfrid Comeau

Using the Scaled Distance (SD) and the vector sum Peak Particle Velocity (PPVvs) from a single delay, preferably single blasthole, in a shot, a number is derived which has shown itself to be consistently related to blasting efficiency, as experienced by one of the authors of this paper over the last thirty years. The numbers derived by this process range in value over one order of magnitude more or less. This variation, a function of distance, weight of explosive in the delay, blasthole diameter, blast design, powder factor and the geological environment, can be consistently related to two of these factors, powder factor and distance. In actual use the measured "BED" representing good blasting results should not vary by more than + 33 to + 50 percent of the estimated "BED" in non calibrated cases, and + 10 to 20 percent where previous experience is available. Relatively high "BED" values are indicative of poor blasting results while relatively low "BED" values may be precursors of poor blasting results in a shot. There are many variables in the geological environment which can affect the "BED". A case study is presented from a surface coal mining operation in eastern Canada. This case study tries to evaluate the reasons for the variability in "BED" values derived from multi-hole shots. A problem in using "Signature Vibrations" from a single-hole shot to predict blasting vibrations from multiple-hole production shots is identified.

Jan 1, 1998

By Gordon C. Petersen, Gary A. Almeraris

This paper describes the controlled blasting techniques required to mine a rock tunnel section of a main interceptor located in the Boston Metropolitan area. The 3m (10 ft) x 2.8m (9.25 ft) horseshoe shaped tunnel was driven 490m (1600 ft) by conventional drill and blast methods. The geology varied round by round and consisted of five highly faulted and jointed igneous rock types. The tunnel intersected numerous slickenslides and open mud seams which hampered both drilling and loading operations. Smooth blasting wee critical in order to keep overbreak tc a minimum in this extremely hard but blocky ground.

Jan 1, 1991