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By Claude R. Ayoub, Charles A. Kliche, David G. McDowall

Homestake Mining Company's Open Cut Mine is located in Lead, South Dakota, in the northern Black Hills. The mine is within 300 feet of occupied residences on the south end, and within 1200 feet on the north end. Mining began at the north end of the open pit in October, 1983, and blasting related complaints began almost immediately. Noise and ground movement comprised the majority of the structural damage claims. As a result of these complaints, Homestake purchased a recording seismograph and began monitoring nearly every blast. In addition, the company hired a consultant to review Homestake's blasting and monitoring practices. He was also asked to do a single, one-time study of the cracks in six homes. This initial work led to Homestake monitoring all blasts with three seismographs and having South Dakota School of Mines and Technology do a year-long study of crack development and propagation in five homes in Lead.

Jan 1, 1989

By Donald Hurd, James Rowland, Richard Mainiero

In previous conferences the authors have reported on toxic fumes generated by the detonation of ANFO. The research reported here extends the earlier work to include an emulsion blasting agent and ANFO/emulsion blends. Explosive mixtures were shot in 4-inch Schedule 80 steel pipe (outer diameter 4.50 in (11.43 cm), inner diameter 3.83 in (9.72 cm)) in a chamber in the experimental mine at the Pittsburgh Research Laboratory (PRL). Following each shot, the fumes in the chamber were analyzed using on-line instrumentation.

Jan 1, 2001

By Lawrie Logan, Mike Wiggin

This paper will be in two parts, a discussion of the benefits available from benefit sharing as a concept followed by an examination of how this approach was applied at Mesa J Mine and what improvements were made. The first part is an outline of the ways that both parties in a benefit sharing agreement can uncover additional wealth by bringing a new approach to the relationships between mine and supplier. The paper describes a partnering agreement recently established between Robe River Iron Associates (RRIA) and Dyno Nobel Asia Pacific Ltd (DNAP) to access the wealth locked up by the usual explosives supply contracts in Australia and elsewhere. The partners are acting cooperatively to maximise the benefits to both parties from optimising blasting practices at the Mesa J Iron Ore Mine in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

Jan 1, 2001

By Tom Goforth, Rongmao Zhou

The interest of seismologists in mining explosions has increased substantially with the construction of the International Monitoring System (IMS). The IMS supports the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty by providing global data coverage from seismic, hydro acoustic, infrasonic, and radionuclide sensors that will detect a host of natural and man-made events at regional (<2000 km) distances. Ideally, the recorded data can be used to identify those events that have explosive characteristics and therefore might be clandestine nuclear tests. The regional observations assure the detection of mining explosions, and these must be properly identified to avoid false alarms of the monitoring system. Cooperation with the mining industry, including documentation of the firing programs, provides critical information necessary to characterize the seismograms.

Jan 1, 2006

By Seung-Kyu Baek, Chang-Ha Ryu, Yang-Kyun Kim

Safety concern is one of the most important parameters in the design of building demolition by explosive blasting. Accidents were sometimes reported due to the flying chips of fragmented materials in building demolition work in urban area. Laboratory experiments were performed to investigate the failure behavior of reinforced concrete pillars under blast loading and to develop an effective protection technique. Sixteen reinforced concrete pillars were constructed with two sizes: 450×450×1800 mm and 600×300×1800 mm. The failure behavior and the flying chip velocities were observed by means of a high-speed camera. Protection scheme was designed and the effects of several protection materials were investigated. Two kinds of non-woven fabrics and wire net were tested as protection materials. The results showed that reinforcing bar was one of the important factors to determine specific charges, and that mesh size of wire net and tied-up method affected the protection of flying chips. Control of gas effects is also a key to the control of flying chips. It was recommended to use both wire net and nonwoven fabrics as primary and secondary protection materials. Such protection scheme was successfully applied to the explosive demolition of 16 and 17-story apartment buildings.

Jan 1, 2002

By Dan McCutchen, Oettmeier

Kelly bar drilling and blasting is unique to Florida, the' Bahamas and other marine limestone areas in the world where blast holes are required but will not remain open for the loading of explosives. This type of rock formation usually yields 1.5 tons of recoverable rock compared to 2.2 tons per cubic yard for competent limestone. The loss of .7 tons per cubic yard is due to voids and sand in the formation. These deposits all contain water to the top of the blast holes which are collared only a few ft. above the ground water level. The working pit is a water filled lake which is excavated from the bank by draglines. These drills have been used in Florida for many years to depths of 65 ft or less.

Jan 1, 1991

By Florian Bauer

The Fording River mine in British Columbia produces hard coking coal in an open pit operation. Coal seams are exposed by blasting overburden and digging blasted muck with rope shovels. The drilling and blasting process presents a considerable cost factor to the operation. Reducing the amount of explosives needed therefore contributes considerably to costs saving initiatives. However, reducing the powder factor only makes sense if the subsequent loading processes by the shovels are not compromised in terms of productivity.

Jan 1, 2014

By Derek Morris, Vito Saccheri

In the monitoring of seismic exploration (whether by explosive or vibratory energy sources), the intensity of shaking at neighboring structures can now be measured quite accurately and comprehensively with portable equipment. However, the interpretation of the results is open to considerable debate and mis-interpretation. One conventional approach is simply to compare the maximum measured peak particle velocity (PPV) with a permissible standard – usually 0.5 inches/sec (1.3 cm/sec) because this is the value generally referred to in the U.S. Bureau of Mines standard. This can be very conservative, both for surface structures, and especially for buried structures like pipes, for which absolute reliance on PPV obscures the true complexity of field problems. Quite apart from the fact that the full Bureau of Mines standard is actually a reasonably complex function of frequency (for the simple reason that in differing parts of the frequency spectrum, damage may be displacement or acceleration controlled), the effects of spatial direction and orientation are often ignored.

Jan 1, 2009

By John Cowin, Dan McCutchen

Cowin & Company has specialized in underground construction since 1924. This paper reviews the sinking of two shafts in the Alabama coal fields using bulk-loaded explosives. Each shaft is eighteen hundred feet deep, and their diameters were twenty feet and twenty-three feet. The first consideration in changing to a new explosives system was safety. Safety began with the explosive supplier training the miners in the use of the new system, from explanation of the pumping unit on the surface to hands-on training in the shaft. The considerations covered include establishing a thunderstorm exit plan, and reducing exposure time of the crew to explosives while loading. The system consisted of a specialized pumping unit and an advance emulsion product. Eliminating the need for nitroglycerin based explosives, and reducing sensitivity to mechanical shock were goals that were met. Performance in the shaft and ease of use meant morale of the miners using the system remained high and positive. Performance benefits discussed include reducing the number of holes in the round, and cutting explosives loading time in half. Damage to the ribs of the shaft was greatly reduced, making it safer to work near the ribs on succeeding rounds. Cleaning the bottom before drilling the next round also showed marked improvement. The economics of the system became very apparent when cycle time saved was allocated against fixed cost of sinking these shafts.

Jan 1, 2000

By Jay Smerekanicz, Florin: Pedersen Gheorghiu, Alan Cameron

In order to expand the capacity of Modern Landtill, a groundwater extraction system consisting of a linear system of pumping wells over 2,700 feet long had to be replaced. The new system would be covered by landtill cells to a depth of approximately 400 feet, and therefore would have to be maintenance free. In addition, the new system had to be proven to be more effective than the previous system, groundwater extraction had to be maintained during construction and construction could not disturb either the landfill operation or nearby residential neighbors.

Jan 1, 2001

By Juan Pablo Guevara, Victor Munoz, Rob Bush, Gonzalo Marias

Cerro Negro Mine, property of Goldcorp Inc., is in the process of developing four separate underground access ramps for the exploitation of high grade, narrow vein gold deposits with vertical to sub-vertical dips. The Mariana Central, Mariana Norte, and San Marcos accesses are primarily in the development stages, while the Eureka access began production stope blasting in April of 2013. Mariana Central will also begin production in May or June of 2014.

Jan 1, 2015

By Alvin D. Christmas

The missing link is a connector between the congested downtown area of Knoxville, Tennessee adjacent to the former World's Fair site, the I_40 I_75, and Western Avenue traffic arteries. This connecter was designed to accommodate the 37,470 motorists who presently travel through these highly congested narrow paths to be replaced by the 21.8 million dollar Henely Street Connecter. All construction and blasting was to take place while existing traffic was re_routed so as to allow access between the downtown area and the vital interstate corridor. To avoid major traffic problems, the project was to be accomplished in three phases: (1) the Western Avenue viaduct demolition; (2) two new viaducts to be constructed; (3) the open box cut at Henely Street next to the L & N Depot. Due to the past attempts by the Fort Sanders Community Home Owners group and the Historical Society to stop the Henely Street Connector, this project involved a very comprehensive blasting damage control program with special provisions of .5 inches per second measured at the foundation of the closest structure.

Jan 1, 1995

By Braden T. Lusk, Brett C. Jackson

The Kentucky Commissioner of the Department for Natural Resources, accompanied by a motion for accident prevention from Kentucky’s Explosive Industry and other associated fields, have requested for an Industry Flyrock Prevention Task Force to be formed by an Explosive Industry panel. This task force is led by Dr. Braden Lusk at the University of Kentucky. The mission of this task force is not only to identify the base causes of flyrock incidents based on analyzing historical data from events in the past, but also to track the advancement of flyrock elimination into the future.

Jan 1, 2014

By Hae-Moon Choi, Sang-Don Lee, Hee Soon Shin, Choon Sunwo, Chang-Ha Ryu, Hyun-Koo Lee

Building tunnels means dealing with what rock is encountered. Relocation of the site of the underground structure is rarely possible. Tunneling engineers and miners have to cope with the quality of the rock mass as it is. Different tunneling philosophies and different rock classification methods have been developed in various countries. Most of the rock classification methods are based on the response of the rock mass to the excavation. Tunnel support requirements could be assessed analytically, supplemented by rock mass classification predictions, and verified by measurements during construction. Rock mass classifications on their own should only be used for preliminary, planning purposes and not for final tunnel support. Design of blast pattern in tunneling projects in Korea is also for the most part prepared according to the general rock classification methods such as RMR or Q. It, however, does not take into account the blast performance, and as a consequence, produce poor blasting results. In this paper, the methods of general rock classification and blast design for tunnel excavation in Korea are reviewed, and efforts to develop a new classification method, reflecting the blasting performance, are presented. Copyright ©

Jan 1, 2004

By Xue Yongpeng, Zhu Zhenhai, Zhu Ming

The purpose of the Solid Medium Controlled Blasting Technique and Its Applications is to have the inside of the vessel-shaped framework (e.g: oil tank , water pool, gas chamber, chimney, water tower, grain warehouse and etc.) or the one side of the thin wall-shaped structure(e.g: steel bar concrete wall and etc.), both of which are intended to be demolished, inserted with the required solid medium (e.g: soil , sand , coal, salt and etc.) ,in which there is a certain mass density, and then through which the blasting energy is transferred to fulfill the blasting task. For such a technique, it is necessary to bury the explosives into the inserted solid medium and then to start the explosion to blast the intended target into pieces. The filling of the solid medium may be done mechanically or by man. Compared with the water pressure blasting technique, this one has the characteristics of good effect. wide application, simplified construction procedure , safe and reliable operation and small vibration (less vibration than water pressure blasting by 80% to 90%)in particular without any flying stones, thus resulting in better and comprehensive social and economickfficiency.

Jan 1, 2000

By Tapan Goswami

A column of stemming material keeps explosion gases at high pressure for longer times in a blasthole. In general, use of appropriate stemming enables the achievement of the desired level of fragmentation and looseness of muckpiles, as well as the reduction of airblast and fly rock. The ejection resistance of a stemming column varies with the type of stemming material employed. In an effort to optimise stemming at Mt Owen Mine in the Hunter Valley, Australia, a trial was conducted to assess the efficiency of two types of stemming materials. Mt Owen mine relies on through seam blasting and stemming quality is important in this challenging blasting environment. Each type of stemming was trialed in different section of a blast. The blast was designed using Orica’s SurveyPlus@, LoadPlus@ and ShotPlus@ software. Measurement was done using high speed filming of the blast and then post blast information was obtained from analysis of the film. Data analysis included determination of the ejection velocities and percentage swell. Digging rates were measured from excavator production rates. Despite the presence of rounded surfaces and finer particle sizes, River Pebble stemming material showed superior ejection resistance. It also appeared to perform as well as more angular and expensive Crushed Stone, a finished quarry product, based on excavator productivity and heave. It was recommended that future blasts at the mine be stemmed with the River Pebble stemming material.

Jan 1, 2000

By David G. Paton

"Electromagnetic surveys were conducted at the BXL Bulk Explosives Limited Mixing Plant andsurrounding area to characterize runoff from the site and possible impacts of salinity. The BXL Plant is located at the edge of a depressional area and any escape of soluble ions, such as nitrates, would have ended up in the slough to the west of the plant. Two electromagnetic (EM) instruments were used in the survey. A Geonics EM 3 1 was used in October 1997 and in June 1998, a new multifrequency instrument, a GSSI GEM 300 was also tested. Both instruments were individually mounted on a plastic sled with Teflon runners and towed with an ATV quad. Position was determined using a Trimble Pro XL global positioning system (GPS) with a real time correction mode Landstar receiver for an accuracy of about *l m. Both GPS and EM instruments were set to collect data at 1 second intervals. The quadrature maps for both instruments showed essentially the same information, namely of very high conductivity, appearing to emanate from the mixing plant. The levels of conductivity were highest where the saline water appeared to pool, at the southern end of the slough. Soil sampling locations were identified from the EM maps and navigated to using the real time GPS. Composite samples were collected by hand using a Dutch auger, from two locations, in increments of O-1 5, 15-30, 30-60 and 60- 90 cm. The analysis of the soil samples indicated a complete absence of nitrate or ammonium ions; the major anion was sulphate, indicating naturally saline subsoil conditions. The GEM 300 made the collection of data more efficient, as only one pass was required to collect the data from four depth intervals. The EM survey combined with the real time GPS allowed rapid characterization of the site with respect to soil salinity and proved to be cost-effective for Phase l/ Phase 2 site assessments and targeting sampling locations."

Jan 1, 1999

By Egonk Arriagada, Jair Alarcon

The efficient use of energy in the ore comminution process is an increasingly important strategic issue for improving the productivity and competitiveness in the mining industry as is in recent years the related focus on reducing energy intensity on the atmospheric pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from its use.

Jan 1, 2015

By S. S. Jenkins Jr.

While the method is seldom used anymore, coyote blasting is an historically interesting way to blast large quantities of rock. It was used extensively in the days before modern fast drills were available and can be very effective in some formations that have a natural breakage pattern. This paper will cover the general principles, some blast design factors and point out several actual blasts including some very large ones.

Jan 1, 2005

By Matthew K. Coy, Paul N. Worsey

The work described in this paper comprised the master’s thesis work of the primary author and was conducted at the Missouri S&T experimental mine. The objective was to determine if rubber tractor treads could be used as an alternative material for blasting mats. These treads are made from steel cable and vulcanized rubber and are very tough. However, once they reach the end of their life on mobile equipment, they are destined for a landfill, or dump site, because they are too tough to recycle. A potential alternative use for them is as blasting mats. Several discarded treads were obtained from Kolb Grading in St. Louis.

Jan 1, 2015