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By Richard D. Love

Competition in the aggregate industry of the 90's will be an over increasing really. With this in mind a quarry manager should always be comparing new and innovative concepts to increase productivity and reduce operating costs. In this paper, the author will present a comprehensive history of a drilling and blasting program that achieves these results. By employing proven methods and implementing new concepts, this program was proven to be a success over a ten year period.

Jan 1, 1991

By MacDonald B. Johnson, Douglass P. Bacon

With the advance of science, rise of public interest in environmental matters, and continuing erosion of air quality, Federal and state regulators are demanding an increasing complex array of data concerning emissions produced by burning and detonating energetic materials. The U.S. Department of Defense, one of the world's largest consumers of energetic materials, now must characterize combustion products resulting from open burning/open detonation disposal operations. The catch-all phrase "below detection limits" no longer satisfies the regulators who now want testing to delve into the ppt level for volatile organic compounds and ppt level for semivolatile organic compounds.

Jan 1, 1995

By Yoshihiro Moriyama, Toshihiro Okitsu, Ryouichi Banno

The fracturing composition using the gas pressure generated by the thermit decomposition reaction gives the following performances.

Jan 1, 1995

By R Wing, D Corkery

"Several mines in the region of Sudbury, Ontario, occur in or near populated areas. In anattempt to examine the effects of environmental changes and blast induced vibrations onhomes in the area, a monitoring study was conceived. The study was conducted fromNovember 1990 to May 1991 in homes located near the 880 Stope at INCO Ltd.'s CopperCliff South Mine."

Jan 1, 1993

By Jeff Yaro, Steven P. Case, Carl Kish

This project involved the construction of a new 4-story library on the campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. The new building was constructed completely below grade, adjoining several of the oldest buildings on the campus. Excepting some surface soil, the job was 100% rock and the excavation had to be completed within a 3-month window.

Jan 1, 1992

By Charles R. Welch, Charles E. Joachim

Underwater blasting causes not only ground shock but water-shock. Underwater shock attenuates less with range from the explosive source than ground shock and has the potential for killing fish or marine mammals or for damaging marine structures. The collapse and subsequent oscillation of the gas cavity surrounding the detonation can sometimes produce a greater impulse than the initial shock wave from the detonation. The airblast from underwater detonations can range from nuisance levels to damaging levels.

Jan 1, 1997

By Pierre-Louis Migairou

After a period of development and experimentation ranging over 20 years, electronic detonators have now come to maturity and are becoming the first choice in many diverse applications like tunnelling, civil works, demolition works, quarrying, large scale open pit mining and underground mining. This paper demonstrates the versatility of electronic initiation systems by detailing a number of case studies in several applications as different as their geographical locations, and gives specific reasons explaining the popularity of electronics in each case.

Jan 1, 2009

By Sean Cahill

The Blasting In the summer of 1999, a Southern California drilling and blasting company conducted blasting as part of the grading operations at the Highlands Ranch development in San Diego, California. Highlands Ranch was a new single family residential project located near older residential properties in the area. Blasting was necessary to remove indigenous meta-volcanic rock associated with the local geology.

Jan 1, 2003

By Kai Nielsen

A model has been developed for sensitivity analysis of open pit bench blasting. The model simulates the cost effectiveness of various blasting designs in relation to the equipment used for drilling, loading, hauling and primary crushing. The simulations will give an indication of the optimum powder factor giving the lowest over-all costs for drilling, blasting, handling and crushing.

Jan 1, 1985

By Zoltan Susanszky

This paper discusses problems encountered when blasting under rivers for pipeline crossings. Many pipelines have recently been laid under the Danube River. Great care had to be taken to determine limits of detonation impulses from blasting operations in order that no damage would occur to structures at the water's edge, boats, and swimmers. Equations were derived from the results of this study which enable prediction of impulse levels.

Jan 1, 1977

By Josh Campbell

Modern blast engineering involves the use of modern technology to provide more efficient blasts. Through the use of improved measurement techniques more information can be obtained on many of the physical variables of a quarry rock face. By employing this information, a more efficient production shot can be designed and loaded. Along with improvements in production, greater safety and improved environmental impact can be achieved. This paper concerns the employment of modern blast engineering at a granite quarry in the Southeastern United States. The test period extended over a period of approximately six months, and this paper will show the results achieved in that time span.

Jan 1, 1998

By Brad Johnson

Homestake Mining Corporations' open cut operation at Lead SD. experienced a highwall failure in October of 1993. The failure released a 75' section of rock wall at the 5280' level. It came to rest on the 5200' safety bench. Since work was in progress below the failure, this rock had to be removed for safety.

Jan 1, 1995

By Anne Charline Sauvage

Blast designers and blasters need to know the rock mass influence on blast to increase explosive effi-ciency and to optimize costs, but also to succeed in limiting blast emissions (vibration, overpressure, flyrock) This paper presents an applied approach which makes it possible to structure the information con-cerning the rock mass and the blasting.

Jan 1, 2013

By Jim Davis, Calvin J. Konya

The methods used to confine the gases within a borehole can influence the amount of useful energy obtained from the explosive charge. Improper confinement not only wastes energy and raises cost but also can result in airblast, excessive ground vibration, flyrock and boulders. The type of stemming material and amount of stemming used will definitely influence the degree of confinement and the efficiency of the blast. In order to extract the maximum energy from the expanding gases, the stemming plug should never blow out and allow the gases to escape prematurely.

Jan 1, 1978

By William C. Geitz, Dan Fitzgibbon

Lightning has always posed a serious threat to blasting operations, especially within the mining and construction industries. In recent years, technological advancements in communications systems and microprocessors have significantly improved the accuracy and efficiency of lightning detection and warning instrumentation. These advancements have increased the availability of highly reliable, accurate and affordable systems for use within the explosives arena.

Jan 1, 1991

By Kamal Wadhwa

Liquid oxygen explosives have been used in India for well over 5 decades now. These are being extensively used both for shallow and deep hole blasting in the various opencast mines and quarries for mining of coal, limestone, ironore, bauxite, magnesite etc. IOL Ltd., are the pioneers in the introduction of these explosives in India and are marketing these under the brand name 'LOXITE'.

Jan 1, 1991

By Curtis Garner

Griesemer Stone located in Springfield, Missouri has supplied aggregate in Southwest Missouri since 1946. In 1954 the decision was made to mine the formation and utilize the mined out area for warehouse space. As advancement proceeded, entrances and small diameter air shafts for ventilation were needed and had to be added. It was decided in 1989 to sink an 8' diameter air shaft designed to move 200,000 cubic feet of air per minute with the help of (4) four 50,000 CFM Loren Cook Fans.

Jan 1, 1991

By John R. Coulson

A survey of federal and state licensing requirements for blasters employed on the surface and underground was conducted for the Bureau of Mines. Subdivisions include surface and underground (large and small), metal, nonmetal and coal. The requirements for certification, class of license, available training, types of testing and enforcement practices are discussed. Included are recommendations of some of the industry trade organizations.

Jan 1, 1980

By Norman Kramer, Roger Keller

The authors would like to thank Austin Powder Company for their technical support and input, specifically Stephen Harris, Jason Ryan, and John Capers of Austin Powder, without whose support this paper would not have been possible. Thanks are also extended to Nick Francis of Sandia National Laboratories and Jim Houseworth of Duke Engineering for their input regarding Performance Assessment.

Jan 1, 2000

By William B. Lee, James J. Jurmu

The Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company operates three open pit iron mines on the Marquette Iron Range of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Open pit iron ore mining began in the area in the 1840's. Underground mining was predominant from 1860 through 1960. Large scale low grade-open pit iron ore mining began in the early 1950's with the establishment of the Humboldt Mine, concentrator and pelletizing plant. This pit operated until 1970, when the reserves were exhausted.

Jan 1, 1986