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By Winfried Rosenstock

Following successful trials at Chuquicamata / Chile from February to May 2000 and from February 2001 onwards at Burton Coal Mine, RAG International/Thiess Pty Ltd., Queensland / Australia a significant advancement in blasting technology was achieved using electronic detonators. The mine now uses electronic intiation for the majority of overburden blasting.

Jan 1, 2002

By Jaime Huidobro, Mervin Austin

The effect on an explosive column of the sharp transient stress waves generated during the earlier detonation of adjacent blastholes is of paramount importance to explosives users. Some explosives will sympathetically detonate under these stresses. Others may suffer a transient desensitization, arising from a temporary increase in the density of an explosive beyond certain limits and persisting until the explosive mass relaxes back to the original density. Some explosives are so adversely affected by these stresses that the product suffers immediate and permanent loss of sensitivity. These effects can be clearly seen while blasting in tough conditions such as burn cuts or wedge cuts and in materials, such as coals, that propagate shock waves well.

Jan 1, 1992

By Robert B. Hopler

The Hercudet™ non-electric delay blasting cap system has exhibited outstanding performance and economic results in surface work. The versatility inherent in the system, which allows the combining of the built-in cap delays with the tubing delay (i.e.: the travel time of the gas reaction through the tubing), has resulted in outstanding blast results. Examples of blast patterns used, details of the blast design process, and recently-developed methods of use of Hercudet for surface initiation of detonating cord downlines are given in the paper.

Jan 1, 1978

By F O. Otuonye

Full-face blasts were fired in a 12 x 8 ft drift of an underground hardrock mine in a basalt formation with porphyry copper to study the effects of drill pattern and explosive type on the size distribution of the resulting muckpile. Each muckpile produced by five full-face blasts was sampled four times with a scooptram equipped with a 5-cu yd bucket and the size distribution of the broken rock in each bucket was determined by screen analysis. Results show a strong dependence of the fragment size distribution of muckpile on the blast pattern and explosive type for a given rock type. The mean fragment size of the broken rock was compared with the predictive equations of other investigators. Random sampling of the muckpile from full-scale blasts and screen analyses of the samples are recommended in assessing the size distribution of the broken rock because of scaling errors that are inherent in full-scale blasts when designed from results of small-scale tests.

Jan 1, 1985

By Melvin A. Sannes

The explosives industry is recognized as one of the most dangerous occupations in the world, yet it is rare to see actual training procedures. As our industry becomes increasingly technical, it is imperative that we train the personnel in OUI industry properly.

Jan 1, 1999

By David A. Smith, B L. Jr Lindsey

Arkansas bauxite varies enormously in its consistency and composition which makes blasting a very difficult operation. Blasting rounds have to be designed based on each particular mine's ore characteristics. The variances are so great in some mines that blasting procedures have to be changed almost daily.

Jan 1, 1979

By Young-Dong Cho, Han-uk Lim, Bok-Ki Park, Sang-Eun Lee

Many methods and techniques have been developed to reduce ground vibrations. Some of them are an adoption of electric millisecond detonators with a sequential blasting machine and an improvement of initiating system with an adequate number of delay intevals.

Jan 1, 1995

By Richard Arsenault

The production of oil & gas from wells requires method of flow from the producing formation into the well bore. Once the well is drilled it will have casing pipe installed to protect the integrity of the well formations and means of delivery to the surface. Once casing pipe is installed it will be cemented in by pumping cement through the annulus of the casing pipe down to the bottom of the well and allowed to flow outside the casing pipe up into the formation.

Jan 1, 2007

By John J. Ridgeway

Habits take us where we were yesterday and attitudes tend to keep us there. Until recently, little had been accomplished to improve conventional explosive energy for use offshore. But with the special requirements of the Offshore Oil Industry, and particularly in the North Sea, most equipment, products and services must be specialized as well. Previous attempts to excavate a trench for a sealine in surf areas had been impossible to accomplish. But with the application of safe, controlled explosive energy, an impossible task to accomplish yesterday has now become a reality. Explosive energy, often overlooked as a convenient and economical offshore tool, excavated a clean trench underwater for a 40" sealine at Djeno in the African Congo recently.

Jan 1, 1977

By Stephen John Brace

Increasingly, electronic blast initiation systems are being made available to the mining and construction community, both in South Africa and internationally. Indeed, in some parts of the world, perhaps half a dozen electronic products are being used, with a choice also of shock tube, electric and fuse and igniter cord systems. As these developments have taken place, improvements have been made in safety, reliability and accuracy, so much so that high performances in all these areas are now expected. However, disadvantages often seen by customers, other than : higher price, are decreased user-friendliness and loss of flexibility.

Jan 1, 1998

By Karl Kure, Anders M. Heltzen

Mixtures of prilled ANFO and 0,5 - 3 mm polystyrene balls are interesting substitutes to the tube charges or other types of reduced explosives or detonation fuses. Experiments have shown detonation ability even of a mixture of 95% bolt polystyrene balls and 5% ANFO. The gas and shock energy in the mixtures decrease proportional with the content of polystyrene. The detonation velocity shows higher values than expected for mixtures with more than 50% (vol.) ANFO.

Jan 1, 1980

By Marlyn G. King, Robert L. Martin

Blasting activities in all four pits at Thunder Basin Coal's Black Thunder Mine are focused on cast blasting. With widths varying from 190 feet to 265 feet and bench heights varying from 90 feet to 175 feet, casting efficiencies vary with different geometry's. For example, the percent cast to final in the 200 foot pit is on the average higher than the 270 foot pit. The powder factors are somewhat higher in the narrower pits, thus increasing the cost of blasting. This leads to a very detailed look at the actual benefit of cast blasting and the associated cost of these benefits.

Jan 1, 1995

By S B. Richardson, N T. Moxon, A C. Torrance

In many mining situations the energy released by an explosive is far too high and results in over fragmentation and excessive damage to the surrounding strata. Laboratory experiments have demonstrated that the shock energy of an explosive can be significantly reduced by surrounding it with an attenuating material such as a foam. The effect of this reduction in shock energy on fragmentation has been determined using model materials. A four fold reduction in the amount of minus 8mm material relative to an air decoupled charge of the same weight was obtained for a foam attenuator.

Jan 1, 1989

By Ronald L. Sanders

The prevailing view of the coal mining industry by government officials is: "Tell everyone you're coming - Don't let anyone know you're there - And remove all evidence you have ever been there". Now the irony is that the government inspectors are just enforcing the law. The coal mine operators seem more interested in genuine reclamation than the inspectors.

Jan 1, 1979

By T Guiliani, F Ottuonye

Explosives casting is gaining increasing popularity as an overburden removal method in strip mining because the coats of using explosives to cast a percentage of the overburden to the spoil are lower than the costs of using stripping shovels or draglines to do all the overburden removal. This is due to the rising capital and operating costs of draglines and shovels.

Jan 1, 1989

By Jack Eloranta

This paper documents the relationship between material handling and processing costs compared to blasting cost. The old adage, "The cheapest crushing is done in the pit", appears accurate in this case study. Comparison of the accumulated cost of: powder, selected wear materials and electricity; indicate a strong, inverse correlation with powder factor (lbs powder/long ton of rock). In this case, the increased powder cost is more than offset by electrical savings alone.

Jan 1, 1995

By Kfw Eick

The paper describes the use of the Nonel millisecond delay blasting system in narrow, deep, tabular ore bodies and briefly describes the standard stoping method as used on Harmony Gold Mine and compares this with the new Nonel short panel system.

Jan 1, 1990

By Virgil L. Lewis

On September 7, 1994, a Burlington Northern coal train crashed into a parked train in the downtown Gillette, Wyoming rail yard. I would like to address two issues in regards to this accident. One, a slide presentation of the damage created by the accident and the resulting required clean-up and two, a simulation of "what if" had there been an explosion during the course of the crash.

Jan 1, 1996

By Shawn Kirkpatrick, Yang Ruilin, Tamara Whitaker

In order to manage blast vibration in soft ground containing large diameter holes and large charge weights, a number of issues must be considered. This paper describes techniques to control and reduce near-field blast vibrations absorbed by highwalls in soft ground. Sympathetic detonations need to be controlled. Sympathetic detonations can cause excessive vibration due to an unknown number of charge weights firing out of sequence. The excessive vibration can cause damage to the ground. Sympathetic detonations can be controlled through proper design of blast patterns and, in some cases, through the use of specialized electronic detonators.

Jan 1, 2009

By David Willock, S. Singh, Michael Glogger

The efficiency of the loading system in a mine depends upon the characteristics of the muck pile, the loading machine specifications and the loading practices. The focus of this paper was to look specifically at the size distribution of blasted material, and to quantify its effects on loader productivity. A scale model of LHD was designed and fabricated to represent machines currently employed in the industry. The experiments were performed using crushed Gabbro, which was mixed in various proportions according to Rossin-Rammler size distribution to give five different characteristic particle sizes and five different size distribution constants for each characteristic particle size. The effect of the size distribution constant on peak and mean penetration forces, work done and bucket fill factor was examined. In addition, the influence of mean particle size, 80% passing size (D80) and % oversize on the penetration force and bucket load was investigated.

Jan 1, 2001