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Quarrying of Stones.
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Definition:
Stones occur in the form of natural rock masses or layers on the surface. The
process of extraction of suitable stones from their natural rock beds or layers
is commonly called Quarrying of Stones.
It differs from the mining of ores of metals in that whereas quarrying is an
operation carried out entirely on the surface, mining involves digging below
the ground, sometimes at considerable depth.
A quarry is a place where different types of stones are extracted.
Selection of Site for Quarrying of Stones.
Engineers and contractors have to keep following factors into consideration
while deciding about the location of a quarry site.
(i) Availability of sound rock: A quarry can be opened up only where a
sound rock that can yield good quality building stones exists in the
considerable area.
Once opened the quarry should be able to supply the stones for quite a few
years. The stone must be available in large quantity and must be of uniform
quality.
At the same time, a quarry must not be located very close to a town because
quarrying operations are full of hazards. This becomes especially important
when blasting method has to be used for quarrying of stones.
(iii) Distance from main roads: Stones extracted from a quarry have to be
transported to the nearby towns and cities. Naturally, the quarry must be
located near to the main network of roads leading to those towns and cities.
Otherwise, longer approach roads will have to be constructed that will add to
the cost of haulage of the Stone.
The required dumping space should be easily available near the quarry.
(v) Another factor is drainage system: Ground water and surface water
have to be quickly drained. It should be possible to provide adequate drainage
at the quarry site.
Read more: Curing of Concrete – Its Methods, Time, & Requirements.
Preparation Steps for Stone Quarrying.
Once a site for a quarry is decided, following preparatory steps become
necessary for starting the operation:
(iii) Removal of the over burden: The surface of natural rock beds are
invariably covered by some thickness of soil or lose material.
Irrespective of the methods of quarrying of stones, this over-burden has to be
cleared first before the actual quarrying operation could be started.
Similarly, some loosely held rocks on the slopes have to be removed to avoid
accidents in the later operations.
Or, in major quarrying, these holes may be drilled by special machines called
hammer drills.
Once the hole is ready, a steel wedge is inserted in between two steel strips
or feathers. This is done with all the holes drilled in a sequence.
Such firmly inserted wedges are then struck with a hammer almost
simultaneously. This process develops cracks along the lines joining the
holes.
After that, long iron bars are inserted in the holes and cracks, and then the
blocks of the rocks are pushed forward onto the free face of a quarry.
The Channeling Method of Quarrying:
In this method of quarrying, involves the use of big machines called
Channelizers which have reciprocating cutting tools and are power driven.
When single large blocks of costly stones like marbles and limestones are
required, this method is most suitable.
Read more: What is Dressing of Stones. Its Types & Methods.
The channelizer can cut a groove as deep as 3 meters, as wide as 5 cm and
as long as 3 meters, or even more.
When a single block is required, grooves of required depth and length are first
cut at the back and sides of the working face of the quarry.
Holes are then drilled from the free front side horizontally to meet the back
channel at its base.
Using wedges and rods, the block is separated from the rock and hoisted up
to the transporting lorries or wagons.
Single blocks as big as 10 meters long and 3 meters thick and 1-3 meters
wide can be quarried by this method from soft rocks.
Quarrying by Heating:
It is an old, crude method which may be useful locally for obtaining small
quantities of stones. Rocks are heated for a few hours by burning heaps of
firewood over their surface.
Such a process results in expansion of the upper layers and their cracking
and separating from the lower layers.
The force generated due to this explosion is sufficient only to create cracks
and loosen blocks of good size.
Blasting for quarrying for stones may be quite different from blasting for road
clearance.
In the latter case, the size of the broken stone is of not much consequence.
Quarrying by blasting, therefore, requires very experienced persons
thoroughly acquainted with blasting explosives on the one hand and strength
qualities of rocks on the other hand.
The diameter of the hole is determined with the type of explosive being used.
For explosives that come in standard sized cartridges, the diameter has to be
slightly greater than the size of the cartridges for allowing easy insertion.
The Spacing of holes has to be decided carefully when a number of holes are
to be charged and fired simultaneously.
A given quantity of any explosive can induce cracks, break open or throw
away limited volumes of rock around it on exploding.
Naturally, when holes are too closely spaced, they will shatter the rock into
smaller, useless pieces.
When they are spaced too far off from each other, cracking caused on their
explosion will not break the entire aimed rock mass in the desired manner.
Properly spaced holes charged with calculated quantities of explosive will not
only break the calculated volume of rock into blocks of manageable size but
also throw them at a proper distance from the quarry.
While spacing the holes, the distance from the free side of the quarry is kept
into consideration.
On exploding, the main thrust is along the shortest distance to the free side.
This (distance) is called the line of least resistance.
If this line is of considerable length, the shot may prove effective. Similarly, if
this distance is too short, the broken stone may be thrown far away from the
quarry.
Following are some important steps to keep in mind while charging the blast
hole:
(i) The holes are first cleared of all the obstructions and irregularities with the
help of wooden romping rods.
(ii) Explosive in the form of powder packs or cartridges is then inserted in
small quantity at a time.
Before adding the next batch of explosive, the previously placed quantity is
packed firmly by using wooden tamping rods (metallic rods are never used).
The hole is generally filled from 1/3 to 1/2 its depth with the explosive.
(iv) The hole is then summed. Stemming consists of filling the remaining 2/3
to 1/2 depth of blast-hole (above the last compacted layer of explosive) with
inert and non-combustible material like powdered clay, rock and, sand.
This is also done in installments. Each installment of the stemming material is
thoroughly compacted before placing the second layer.
The main object of the stemming process is to prevent the escape of the
gases produced by the explosion through the hole.
They are made to pass to other directions and do the job of breaking the rock
by their energy.
(v) It is also customary to put the safety fuse (for firing) at the beginning of
stemming operation.
In another arrangement, a thin rod is kept inserted in the hole during the
stemming process. This rod is removed at the completion of stemming, and
the fuse is inserted in its place.
It is this free end that is ignited by the firing man who has time at his disposal
to run to a place of safety proportional to the length of the fuse.