Professional Documents
Culture Documents
BY :-
1. Sahil (2017BTMI001)
2. Aditya Raj Nikhil (2017BTMI002)
3. Vikas (2017BTMI001)
4. Sarvodaya Diwakar (2018BTMIOO2L)
5. Vansh Prakash Singh (2018BTMI003L)
1
Objectives:
You are all aware that Mining is a major
economic sector of any country.
Mining is a geotechnical industry.
Geologist explore the economic mineral
deposits for mining.
A lot of methods are adopted to exploit the
valuable economic mineral resources through
open cast mining or underground mining
methods.
2
In all these methods, there is a need to dislodge
the ore or mineral deposit from the main body
of the rocks.
Dislodging requires heavy energy application
and machineries.
To simplify the work, rock blasting is the
easiest way.
3
In mining operations, blasting has become a
routine work. With proper understanding of
the rocks and blasting methods, the mining
work can be done effectively.
4
The basic objectives of this report is to
highlight the principles and practices adopted
in rock blasting operations for mining
sectors.
5
The aspects concentrated in this report are:
a) Purpose and scope of blasting
b) Steps involved in blasting
c) Blast design and patterns
d) Methods of blasting
e) Controlling factors of Blasting.
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1.0 Introduction:
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Hence, drilling and blasting are considered to be
the first phase of the production cycle in most
of the mining operations.
8
Quiet a lot of improvements have been shown
by experts in controlled blasting operations
which are more beneficial not only on
production point of view, but also on the safety
point of view of mine workers.
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This image shows a large scale open cast mine.
11
This illustration shows the schematic view of a
quarry operation.
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This diagram shows the extension of an ore
body to be mined after removing the over-
burden/ waste lying both sides of it. The bench
slope is about 45 to 72 degrees. Systematic
blasting is necessary to mine this ore body.
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1.1 What is blasting?
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The explosives are used to produce a volume of
rapidly expanding gas that exerts sudden
pressure on its surroundings and break the mass
into pieces.
There are three common types of explosives
used for blasting as chemical, mechanical, and
nuclear explosives.
About 100 years ago, the Chinese invented
explosives.
15
The first chemical explosive was gunpowder.
Germans manufactured gunpowder in the early
1300s.
A detonator is a device used to trigger this
explosive device. Detonators can be
chemically, mechanically, or electrically
initiated.
Different explosives require different amounts
of energy to detonate.
16
Detonation is a necessity for the explosive to
get triggered for blasting.
17
Sometimes, blasting is also carried out for
removing the overburden from the surface of
the earth for construction purposes.
An optimum blast is associated with the most
efficient use of blasting energy in the rock-
breaking process.
The mine blasting expenditure should also be
very less.
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The process should not only reduce the
blasting cost but also reduce the consumption
of explosives, and less wastage of explosive
energy in blasting.
During any mining-related blasting, there
should be less throw of materials, and there
should not be much blast-related vibration.
All these should provide greater levels of safety
and stability to the nearby structures and also
for all the people working around the mines.
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1.3 Blasting- An essential part of the mining
cycle:
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This diagram illustrates the overall
organisational structure of a mine cycle. Once
the ore body is investigated through detailed
surveys, the next steps include drilling and
blasting, followed by loading, hauling, primary
crushing and other ore-dressing operations.
Blasting helps in not only in rock breaking, but
also in primary crushing.
So, Blasting is an essential aspect in the mining
cycle.
21
Now, blasting has become a technology by
itself.
Many Mega engineering projects need some
kind of blasting of basement rocks.
The blasting technology is the process of
fracturing the material by the use of a calculated
amount of explosive so that a predetermined
volume of material is broken down into pieces.
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Everything can be visualized by proper
calculations and execution, with reference to
time and space.
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The process of blasting includes the following
stages:
1. Creation of blast holes and cleaning by using
suitable tools.
2. The charge of explosives and place them at
the breaking ends.
3. Filling of the remaining portion with clay
and tamping.
4. Insertion of Fuse and keep it projecting 15-
20 cm above the rock surface.
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5. Firing from the free end of fuse by using a
suitable detonator.
25
This diagram shows the drill hole charged with
explosives at a depth.
The burden face is shown as B.
The left-hand side is the bench over which the
fragmented mass will fall.
H is the depth of the borehole.
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This diagram shows the schematic arrangement
of blast holes.
27
This photograph shows the drilling works being
done on a bench.
31
For surface explorations, in opencast mining
operations, drillings rigs may be used.
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For subsurface explorations, rock boring
machines are used.
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A shallow-hole driller may also be used for
preparing blast holes in underground mines.
If we do not do these operations, the
expenditure of mining would be more and the
time taken for recovering the economic deposit
will also be more.
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In order to cut down the cost of the production
and speed up the processes, optimal
fragmentation of the ore body is necessary.
Fragmentation is a necessity for mining and ore
dressing also. Fragmentation helps rapid
excavation of resources. Through a properly
designed blasting pattern and safe execution, in
a mine, it is possible to achieve the targeted
productions. Rock blasting is an interesting
aspect of study.
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2.2 Concept of Blast:
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The success lies in proper design of the blasting
process. The following are the important points
to be kept in mind:
• When an explosive charge is detonated,
chemical reaction is activated.
• This chemical reaction will very rapidly
change the explosive mass into a hot gas
which generate shockwaves. These are
compressive waves, which also expand on all
sides.
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• They act on the borehole wall and propagate
through the explosive column.
• If a series of holes are detonated
simultaneously, the entire line of masses will
be fragmented.
• Due to this effect, blasting is always carried
out in an array of interlinked blastholes.
• Waves generate cracks and make the entire
process very effective.
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3.0 Good blast design and execution:
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3.1 Factors of Blast design:
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This diagram shows the effective free face.
The location of first blast hole, second blast
hole and the third one also seen here.
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3.2 Gun Powder and Dynamite:
In the earliest days, blasting was carried out
using black powder which was also called as
gunpowder. This compound is a mixture of
saltpeter (potassium nitrate), sulfur, and
charcoal (carbon).
There have been steady developments in
explosives, detonating and delaying techniques
and in the understanding of the mechanics of
rock breakage by explosives.
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The subsequent development was the invention
of dynamites made by the Swedish chemist and
engineer Alfred Nobel in 1867.
Dynamite is an explosive made
of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered
shells or clay) and stabilizers.
Dynamites gained popularity due to its wide-
scale use as a safer alternative to gun
powder and nitroglycerin.
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3.3 Selection of explosives:
46
Selection of explosives depends on many
factors. The primarily factors include the
critical diameter, hydrostatic pressure,
temperature, minimum primer weight, density
weight strength, bulk strength, gap sensitivity,
water resistance, loading procedures, coupling
or decoupled properties, shelf life, reliability for
bulk operations and overall drilling and blasting
economics.
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3.4 Drilling Pattern:
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Drilling holes are usually made in a zig-zag
pattern. They are done in the form of rows and
columns on the surface like grids. But inside
their disposition may be dipping differently.
The spacing between the rows and column
should be of equal length. This is called as
drilling pattern. Selection of the drilling pattern
varies with the type and size of the drill’s used,
depth of holes, kinds of rocks handled, quantity,
rapidity of the explosive & amount of steaming.
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An array is the line of drill holes made for
blasting works.
50
A typical surface blast design will have a set of
blast holes charged with explosives.
In this illustration, we can see the layout. The
rows are designated with sequential numbers.
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The symbol B denotes the burden thickness
and the symbol S denotes the spacing between
blast holes. If this sequence is executed, the
array of line 1 will get triggered first, followed
by the other arrays, one after the other. The
mass gets fragmented and will get fragmented
towards the direction of arrow mark shown in
the diagram.
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4.1 Types of blast patterns:
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This is a rectangular grid network:
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This is the staggered pattern used for blasting:
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This illustration shows the vertical blast hole
designed to remove the excessive burden on the
left.
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Here is another example. The location and
design may produce much air blast. There may
be a failure in blast operations, which may incur
loss of explosives.
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The row of the holes may be in single or
multiple. Based on this, blasting pattern is also
classified into
a) Single Row blasting pattern and
b) Multi-row blasting pattern.
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4.2 Single& Multi- row firing pattern:
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Plan A Shows the multi-row blasting design.
The mass will move towards the direction of the
arrow, that is vertically upwards.
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65
Plan C shows a corner-cut design. It is also
called as echelon design. The fragmented mass
will fall back on the cut bench itself.
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This is one more corner-cut design- Plan D. The
blast sequence is different from the previous
plan-C.
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Plan-E is another corner cut blast design.
The cut bench will expand leftwards.
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For any shallow-depth excavations, single-row
design is preferred as shown in this plan F.
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These blast designs are preferred for the
following kinds of rock materials:
a) The alternate delay pattern (used for softer
rocks),
b) Consecutive shot delay pattern (used for
rocks with medium hardness),
c) Short delay firing with a cut (used for hard
rocks).
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4.3 Bench blasting :
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A time delay in the detonation between the rows
creates new free surfaces for each row.
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Initiation of the blast is with a booster down the
hole.
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The delay patterns, and varying the hole array
to fit natural excavation requirement, allow for
an efficient use of the explosive energy in the
blast. This diagram shows the delay in
triggering with reference to arrays
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5.0 Methods of Blasting:
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5.1 Controlled Blasting
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Trim (Cushion) Blasting,
Smooth blasting (contour or perimeter
blasting) for underground mines and muffle
blasting as a solution to prevent fly-rock from
damaging human habitants and structures.
Presplitting
Presplitting is a technique that involves loading
a single row of holes that have been drilled
along a desired highwall crest or excavation
line.
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Here in this diagram, you can see the role
presplitting.
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When the final limit of excavation is known,
there is a need to restrict the blasting zone.
Presplitting helps to control the zone.
Presplitting is to create buffer holes and presplit
holes in a closed network.
When blasting is done, since the zone is already
weakened with series of holes, the blast has no
role to play after this line.
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Such methods reduce the crushing effect
around the borehole and are shot before the
main production shot.
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The idea is to minimize or eliminate overbreak
from the primary blast and to produce a smooth
rock wall. Presplitting will add a large drilling
cost to an operation.
Borehole Diameters
Normally, the diameter of a borehole is limited
by the capabilities of the drill used to create it.
As a rule, open-pit and coal strip mines using
large drills will drill presplit holes that range
from 9 to 12-¼ inches in diameter.
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Quarry and construction presplits are much
smaller, generally ranging from 2 to 4 inches in
diameter.
Presplit holes may be drilled on an angle if the
geology and drill allow for it.
Spacing
Presplit spacing will vary, depending upon rock
characteristics, size of the operation, and bench
height. Trials should be conducted to determine
the optimal borehole spacing.
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Explosive Charge
Depending upon the rock characteristics and
spacing used for the presplit, charge loads will
vary.
Smooth Blasting
The term “smooth blasting” refers to lightly
loaded holes that have been drilled along
excavation limits and are shot after the main
excavation is removed.
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Typically, such holes are shot instantaneously
or with little delay, leaving a smooth wall with
minimum overbreak.
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Line drilling
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Line drilling is normally limited to construction
projects, dimension stone quarries, and rock
sculpting activities.
Cushion blasting
“Cushion blasting,” or trim blasting, is similar
to smooth blasting. In this method, the holes are
shot after the main production shot.
Cushion blasting involves backfilling the entire
borehole with crushed stone to cushion the
shock from the finished wall.
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5.2 Major factors influencing blast
efficiency:
• Burden
• Spacing
• Bench height
• Powder column
• Blast hole diameter and depth
• Powder factor
• Stemming.
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5.3 Secondary Blasting:
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5.4 Explosives based on chemical nature:
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5.5 Calculating Powder Factors
The Powder Factor is a relationship between
how much rock is broken and how much
explosive is used to break it. It can serve a
variety of purposes, such as an indicator of how
hard the rock is, or the cost of the explosives
needed, or even as a guide to planning a shot.
Powder factor can be expressed as a quantity of
rock broken by a unit weight of explosives.
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Or, alternatively, it can be the amount of
explosives required to break a unit measure of
rock.
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Delay intervals between rows less than 6 ms per
of burden can cause stemming ejection, fly
rock, and excessive back break.
Multiple row blast (> 4 rows) use longer
intervals in back rows.
Bottom delay has generally the shortest delay
and delay between decks in the same hole
should range 10 to 50 milli seconds.
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6.2 Selection of explosives:
Five characteristics are considered in the
selection of explosives. They are:
concern environmental factors,
1. sensitiveness,
2. water resistance,
3. fumes,
4. flammability and
5. temperature resistance.
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Sensitiveness is the characteristic of an
explosive which defines its ability to evaporate
through the entire length of the column charge
and controls the minimum diameter for
practical use.
Water Resistance:
Water resistance is the ability of an explosive to
withstand exposure to water without it suffering
detrimental effects in its performance.
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Explosive products have two types of water
resistance, internal and external water
resistence.
Internal water resistance is defined as water
resistance provided by the explosive
composition itself.
As an example. some emulsions and water gels
can be pumped directly into boreholes filled
with water.
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These explosives displace the water upward, but
are not penetrated by the water and show no
detrimental effects if fired within a reasonable
period of time.
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The fume class :
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Although most commercial blasting agents are
near oxygen-balanced to minimize fumes and
optimize energy release, fumes will occur and
the blaster should be aware of their production.
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Flammability:
104
Temperature Resistance:
Cold Resistance:
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6.3 Performance of Explosives:
In the explosive selection process, the
environmental conditions can eliminate certain
types of explosives from consideration on a
particular project. After the environmental
conditions have been considered, one must
consider the performance characteristics of
explosives. Characteristics of main concern are
sensitivity, velocity, density, strength and
cohesiveness.
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6.4 Integration of all factors:
Blast engineering is an integrated approach. It
considers the internal environment, external
environment, drill pattern and loading and
haulage of the fragmented ore materials.
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A good fragmentation needs this integrated
approach. Planning is a must to achieve success
in this process.
The good design will produce good results or
release of broken masses.
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7.0 Conclusion:
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The design of blasting patterns is specific to not
only the explosives that are being used, but also
to the rock or ore type that is being fragmented.
In this lesson we have seen most of the
important aspects related to rock blasting for
mining.
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