MINING SURFACE 2A

SMMMNA2

Learning Unit 2B
SURFACE MINE BLAST DESIGN

Prepared by Nyadzeni Makhado JANUARY 2023

 READING MATERIAL

[1] DJORDJEVIC, N. Optimal blast fragmentation. Mining Magazine, February 1998,

pp121-125.

[2] LABUSCHAGNE, J. Optimisation of the total costs related to fragmentation. South

African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy Surface Mining Symposium, September
1996, Johannesburg, South Africa, pp233-239.

[3] AECI. Explosives Today Series. Series 2, No 27, March 1982 AECI. Explosives Today
Series. Series 2, No 24, June 1981

[3] LEJUGE, G. Blast design process in openpit mining. Proceedings of the Sixth Annual
Bulk Mining Explosives Southern African Mining Seminar, BME, 31 October 1996,
Pretoria, South Africa.

[4] RICHARDS,A.B., EVANS, R. & MOORE, A.J. Blast vibration control and assessment
techniques. Proceedings of the 4th Intl Large Open Pit Mining Conference, Australian
Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 1994, Perth, Australia, pp209-215

Slide 2
 INTRODUCTION TO SURFACE MINE BLAST DESIGN:
BASIC BLAST DESIGN

❑ INTRODUCTION (BASIC BLAST DESIGN) CONTINUED:

❖ Explosives are used to remove large amounts of rock from the natural
environment
❖ Essentially two types of blasting:
➢ Primary blasting: - breaks out rock from the solid (in situ)
➢ Secondary blasting: - reduces large rocks (from primary blasting) to a
smaller size where necessary
❖ Secondary blasting is expensive; time-consuming; and it slows down productivity
on a mine
❖ Blast designs are intended to reduce secondary blasting to a minimum. An ideal
blast is one in which primary blasting produces the necessary tonnage of rock at
the required fragmentation
❖ In a surface mine, overlying strata are commonly blasted, then removed by
mechanized methods
❖ Explosives are commonly used to break the overburden so that it can be easily
dug out
❖ Blast design must minimize costs and optimize fragmentation

Slide 3
 THE BLAST DESIGN PROCESS

❑ The blast design process can be classified as either:

[1] Initial design for planning (or new mining areas) purposes; or
[2] Optimizing design for existing work after a blast

❑ COMMENTS REGARDING BLAST DESIGN:

[a] It is impossible to establish a blast design numerically
[b] Certain empirical rules must be used to enable a blast to be
numerically analyzed

Slide 4
 RECAP: BLAST DESIGN TERMINOLOGY

Slide 5
 RECAP: BLAST DESIGN TERMINILOGY

D: `Hole Diameter
H: Bench height
B: Burden
L: Charge length (excluding sub-drill)
U: Sub-drill
T: Stemming
S : Spacing

Slide 6
 TRANSFORMATION PROCESS

Inputs Process Outputs

Transforming inputs Product or service

Transformed inputs

Slide 7
 BASIC VARIABLES IN A BLAST

❑ Two types of basic variables in a blast:

❖ Controllable Variables (examples: refer to the next slide); and
❖ Un-controllable Variable (examples: refer to next slide)

❑ The blast transformation process:

Inputs Process Outputs

Uncontrollable
Variables
Loaded
Outputs
Blast
Controllable
Variables

Slide 8
 BLAST DESIGN PARAMETERS

Slide 9
 BLAST DESIGN FACTORS

Factors to take into account for blast design are;

❖ If the blast is for fragmentation or excavation (coarse fragmentation is
allowable for the larger types of loaders, draglines, etc.)
❖ Cleaning or loading equipment requirements, especially maximum rock
block sizes, rock pile profile, etc. (e.g. front-end loader needs a flatter profile
than a rope shovel)
❖ How critical is the overbreak in comparison with problems of an unbroken
toe, large rocks, etc.
❖ Blast-hole sizes available on drill and inclination
❖ Bench geometry and pit production
❖ Slope stability
❖ The cost effectiveness of the blast in comparison to the productivity of the
whole mining system

Slide 10
 THE EFFECT OF BLASTING DESIGN ON TOTAL MINING COSTS

❑ The economic aspects of a blast design are important

❑ The total effects of a blast change must be continuously assessed throughout the
production process
❑ The total effects of the following important aspects of a blasting design must be
continuously assessed:
❖ Blasting cost changes; and
❖ Effects or changes generated by the blast in allied downstream activities
(e.g. transport, processing of product, etc.)
❑ Through the combination of the individual costs of each activity, a total cost profile for
the mine can be generated, where cost is at a minimum for certain degree of
fragmentation
❑ A new or optimized blast design must be analyzed in terms of its effects on total
production costs
❑ Empirical rule: coarse fragmentation will reduce drill and blast costs, but other cost
elements, may not be necessarily reduced!!
❑ A good blast will always ensure minimum costs for the whole operation, including
both ore and waste mining

Slide 11
 RECAP: FRAGMENTATION EFFECT ON TOTAL MINE COSTS

Slide 12
 MINE PRODUCTIVITY RELATED TO BLAST PERFORMAMNCE

Slide 13
 INITIAL BLAST DESIGN

Guidelines for empirical initial blasting design are as follows:

❑ The design is based on empirical rules and explosive energy distribution in the rock.
The explosive energy distribution is measured in kg explosives per Bank Cubic Metre
(BCM). This particular measure is called the Powder Density Factor (PDF), with units
kg/BCM
❑ The proposed initial design from the step above is for the rock type that occurs in the
block
❑ Observation of the performance, especially fragmentation, size distribution, total
costs, etc. (must be recorded)
❑ Modification or optimization of design in the second step to improve productivity
(R/m^3) and to reduce total costs
❑ Throughout the process, be aware of the changeable ground conditions that can
cause blasting results to change

Slide 14
 INITIAL BLAST DESIGN

Factors to take into consideration for the initial blast design are the following:
❑ Rockmass characteristic;
❖ Rockmass strength (i.e. compressive, tensile, shear strength, etc.)
❖ Fractures, joints, and other structures
❖ Geological discontinuities (faults, folds, sills, dykes, etc.)
❖ Presence or absence of water
❖ Presence or absence of intrusive materials in the rockmass
❑ Borehole diameter;
❖ Know what your available equipment is capable of
❑ Bench geometry
❖ Properties, relationships, and measurements of points, lines,
curves, and surfaces
❖ Shape (of a solid or surface), configuration or arrangement
❑ Explosive type

Slide 15
 INITIAL BLAST DESIGN

The initial blast procedure can be divided into two activities:

❑ First activity: - Identifying the powder factor (PDF). The powder fact is the amount
of explosives (kg/BCM) necessary to break a specific type of rock
❑ Second activity: - Calculate the distribution of the explosive within the rock
❖ The borehole size determines the weight of the explosive per metre length
of borehole, and therefore the burden and spacing, to coincide with the
powder factor
❖ Some explosives are sensitive to a minimum hole diameter. Detonation will
not occur, or will be sub-optimal, when the borehole is smaller than the
critical or minimum diameter of the explosive

Slide 16
 THE POWDER FACTOR (PDF)

❑ The powder density factor (PDF), is the amount of energy required to break a volume
of rock;
❑ The PDF is dependent on the rock type to be fragmented;
❑ Different types of explosives contain different amount of energy in a given mass. The
PDF is commonly given in kg/BCM;
❑ Fractures, joints, and other geological structures affect or have an impact on the
amount of energy required to break a given type of rock;
❑ In a given rock mass, there might be some variability in the amount of energy
required to break a given volume of rock;
❑ Typical values of Powder Density Factor (PDF) are given below:
❖ Weak rock: Approximately 0.2kg/BCM
❖ Hard rock: Approximately 0.4 kg/BCM
❖ Rule of thumb (unknown strength of rock): 0.4kg/BCM

Slide 17
 ESTIMATED PDF FOR THE VARIOUS ROCK TYPES

Rock Type PDF (kg/BCM)

Soft laminated strata (shale’s etc.) 0,1 - 0,25

Med-hard sedimentary strata 0,4 - 0,45

Hard jointed rock 0,6 +

Quartzite, etc. 0, 85 +

Massive dolerite, granite, etc. 0,9 - 1,2

Slide 18
 DETERMINING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE PDF AND THE
ROCKMASS

❑ Rockmass properties control the blasting process

❑ Factors to take into account to determine the relationship between the
powder factor (PDF) and the rockmass:
❖ Intact rock strength: - determines resistance against crack
formation in the rock
❖ Joint shear strength: - determines how easy it is to make
individual blocks loose from the rockmass
❖ Rock density: - control the throw of the rock
❖ Rock Quality Designation (RQD):- a measure of the inherent
jointing in the rock
❖ Borehole size: - if the borehole size increases, then the burden
and the spacing should also increase. Larger rock blocks will then
result

Slide 19
 PREDICTING THE POWDER FACTOR (PDF)

❑ Equation used for surface mining blasting with parallel, vertical boreholes
❑ Equation assumes “good” fragmentation result
❑ Equation assumes the existence of typical mining conditions where one or
more free faces exist (i.e. to allow the burden to break out)
❑ Where reduced free face area is limited (e.g. box cuts, trench or ditch cuts),
add 0.15 – 0.20 kg/BCM
❑ When blasting in a built-up area, a maximum PDF of 0.3 – 0.4 kg/BCM
usually applies

Slide 20
 PREDICTING THE POWDER FACTOR (PDF)

Slide 21
 SIZE OF BOREHOLES

❑ The size of boreholes must satisfy two opposing requirements:

❖ Drill and blasting efficiency (i.e. larger holes are cheaper per unit
volume of BCM drilled);
❖ Fragmentation: - smaller holes give finer fragmentation. This is
very important with for instance aggregates (what you blast is what
you sell), where fragmentation can replace the use of primary
crushers
❑ Longer and larger holes:
❖ Although longer holes may be cheaper in terms of costs per unit
volume, they may give insignificant improvements to fragmentation
❖ Longer holes also increase overbreak, flyrock, secondary blasting,
etc.

Slide 22
 SIZE OF BOREHOLES

❑ Longer and larger holes:

❖ Larger diameter holes require larger bench height
❖ Direction is relatively difficult to control with longer length holes
❖ However, if a hole is too short, and when just the small part of the
hole gets loaded, then fragmentation is also poor
❑ A general empirical rule based on bench height (H) to the borehole
diameter (d) ratio:
200 > (H/d) > 60

Slide 23