Benefits of inclined hole drilling in large open-pits and quarries by use
of new top hammer technology
llpo Auranen M.sc.
Tampe/la, Ltd., Tarnrock Blasthole Drills Division, Tampere, Finland
(presently Tarnrock Inc., Da/las, U.S.A.)
INCLINED HOLE DRILLING
Traditionally large blast holes over 127 mm
in diameter have been drilled by rotary or
down-the-hole methods. Most of the blast
holes are drilled vertically, which has been
favourable from the drilling point of view.
Blasting, however, could be done better and
more economically at most mines with holes
that are inclined from the vertical.
Inclined hole blasting also has some
benefits regarding secondary breaking and
hauling.
Drilling inclined holes, which is everyday
practice when using top-hammer drills for
hole sizes below 127 mm in diameter, has not
gained much foothold with larger hole
drilling.
The reason for this lies primarily in the
drawbacks of the main large-hole drilling
method used, namely rotary drilling.
Inclined hole drilling with rotary drills is
very difficult especially in hard rock
types, mainly because of the high feed force
required.
17
W. J. Atkinson et al., Mining Latin America
© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 1986
Recent innovations in hydraulic percussive
drilling have expanded the hole size to
cover the range from 127 to 250 mm.
Hydraulic top-hammer drilling has special
features that affect the drilling and
blasting cycle. Improved extraction methods
are mainly related to the good inclined hole
drilling capability of hydraulic percussive
drills.
Benefits of inclined holes
Improved toe removal
When using inclined holes the geometry of
the toe makes more efficient use of the
reflected shock wave as a greater area of
the wave is released against the overburden
to be removed rather than against the toe
itself. This is seen clearly in Fig. 1,
where vert1cal holes are shown to produce
considerable overbreak to the quarry floor.
When a hole misfires or when subdrilling is
not sufficient vertical holes also produce
"stumps" wh1ch tend to accumulate as the
bench is worked back. With incl1ned holes
success1ve blasts will ma1ntain the grade
level. (Fig. 2)
lnclined blast holes allow better control of
the bottarn of the bench. This results in
less subdrill1ng which creates a more even
bench level on the bench below. Even
benches requ1re very 11ttle broken rock for
levelling and this reduces the need to
redr1ll through loose broken rock to f1rm
rock below, a job wh1ch can be time-wast1ng
and expensive.
D .....,
0 llldlno-1111
!ill] · -
Fig. 1 The benef1ts of 1ncl1ned holes.
lnclined drilling results 1n a more
product1ve reflected shock wave 1n the
cr1t1cal toe port1on of the hole.
The amount of fines w1ll be reduced, a
factor which 1s 1mportant espec1ally 1n coal
m1nes . Another benef1t of incl1ned holes 1s
better fragmentat1on wh1ch reduces the cost
of secondary break1ng, load1ng, haul1ng,
crush1ng and gr1nd1ng.
Decreased backbreak
When blast1ng w1th 1ncl1ned holes more of
the energy of the explosive 1s d1rected
towards the free face than w1th vert1cal
holes. Only a small part of the energy
causes backbreak on the wall. The ab111ty
to dr111 1ncl1ned holes and also to vary the
1ncl1nation becomes 1ncreas1ngly 1mportant
1n successive blasts s1nce the hole bot toms
can be drilled accurately to the des1gned
locat1ons. This allows better toe geometry,
and so reduces the amount of subdr1lling
requ1red. Consequently less darnage 1s
caused to the bench below.

Fig. 2
With 1ncl1ned holes successive blasts will F1g. 3
Effect of hole incl1nation on back break .
mainta1n the grade level.

Greater utilization of explosive energy

More eff1c1ent use of the shock wave energy

of the blast also allows consumption of
explosives to be decreased. Alternatively
this enables increases in the burden, and
therefore a higher yield for the same
specific charge.

18