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By Andrew Palangio, Blessing Taiwo

Understanding rock mass structural features is essential for optimizing blast design, highwall control, and evaluating post-blast performance in both surface and underground mining operations. This paper presents a comprehensive methodology utilizing image-based structural mapping to accurately characterize geological discontinuities including joints, faults, and lineations captured from both terrestrial and aerial imagery at varying scales. Key structural parameters such as joint orientation, spacing, and apparent in-situ block size are extracted to understand rock mass classification and enhance blast design inputs with greater geotechnical precision. The study introduces a significant enhancement to the existing discontinuity assessment algorithm by integrating a deep learning-assisted detection process. This improvement enables more accurate, quantitative and consistent identification of pre-existing cracks and surface features across complex bench free faces. The enhanced system facilitates better evaluation of how structural features influence blast fragmentation, energy distribution, and slope stability. A case study from a limestone quarry illustrates the use of a derived comminution factor based on the relationship between joint-controlled pre-blast block sizes and post-blast fragmentation to evaluate blast performance and optimize future design strategies. The results highlight the value of structural analysis in reducing overbreak, minimizing underbreak, and improving fragmentation predictability. This paper emphasizes the importance of integrating structural assessments into the blasting workflow to enable a more data-driven, geotechnically informed, and performance-optimized approach to modern blast design and evaluation.

Jan 26, 2026

By Rob Farnfield, Ben Williams, Bob Woolley

This paper outlines how drilling safety standards are being driven forward in the United Kingdom’s surface mining and quarrying industry with developments in equipment, procedures and competence.

Jan 1, 2010

By Walter Voglauer, Elisabeth Zechmeister

Description of Project: The four photos show a chimney blasting operation in Vienna’s district of Floridsdorf on May 4 2011. The blasting was done with two types of charges. An internal charge provided a force of blast which resulted in 135 single electrical blasting caps initiated detonations on the basic ensured the straight collapse of the chimney. The preparation work was done by reserve force military engineers. The series of photos were shot by Elisabeth Zechmeister. She works in the Austrian DOD but not as a professional photographer; much more she did all activities in her spare time.

Jan 1, 2013

By Jeremiah Cohn, Rachel L. Bauer, Catherine E. Johnson

Water is frequently used in explosive applications to increase explosive performance and reduce air overpressure. Water tamping can enhance cutting abilities of shaped charges in demolition and increase impulse of kicking or breaching charges. In explosive disposal, water is used to suppress air overpressure and reduce noise. Despite its widespread use, the specific effect of water placement, whether in front of or behind the explosive, has not been studied. This work evaluates the directional effects of water placement on blast performance using 400-gram sheet explosive charges in five configurations: no water (control), rear-only water (tamped), front-only water (pushed), water on both sides (confined), and a thin front-and-rear water layer (low mass confined) to assess reduced mass effects. Water was sealed in plastic bags and held in position with custom 3D-printed cages to ensure consistent geometry and contact. A modified ballistic pendulum consisting of a hanging steel W-beam was used to evaluate impulse transfer, with high-speed video capturing swing velocity. Air overpressure was recorded using a seismograph microphone. Rear-only water (tamping) increased beam swing velocity by 69% over the control while confinement with water on both sides increased performance by 12% at a 2:1 water-to-explosive ratio and by 50% at 4:1, though it still underperformed the tamped-only configuration. Pushed water alone did not increase beam momentum and reduced tamping effectiveness by 19% when combined. Seismograph microphone data showed that pushed and low mass confined water configurations produced some of the highest air overpressure levels (up to 139.2 dB), while tamped and control charges produced lower levels (~134–136 dB), suggesting that pushed water may amplify, rather than mitigate, air shock transmission. These findings show that water placement has a strong directional influence on blast dynamics: water behind a charge enhances energy transfer to the target, while water in front provides limited or potentially counterproductive mitigation. This study advances understanding of water–explosive interactions and will lead to more effective charge designs for breaching, disposal, and demolition.

Jan 26, 2026

By C. Morel, P. Fredes, L. Rojas

This article presents a comprehensive study on the development and application of the specific module called "Exclusion Zone" created by Orica to determine blast evacuation exclusion zones. This module, integrated into the "SHOTPlus™ (blast design software)" software, has been used in the context of optimizing equipment evacuation exclusion zones in a northern Chile mine. The main objective has been to reduce the travel times of extraction equipment without compromising the safety of individuals. The module considers various factors such as the explosive charges used, stemming, sector topography, and detonation sequence to determine the rock projection generated by the blast. Furthermore, it utilizes information collected by drones and support tools such as Groundprobe and BlastVision™. The results obtained demonstrate that the use of this technology has allowed the optimization of blast evacuation distances in the northern Chile mine, generating significant economic benefits for the client.

Jan 1, 2024

By Anthony Konya, Calvin J. Konya

The publication, RI8507, from the U.S. Bureau of Mines established an envelope equation that related scaled-distance to peak particle velocity in an attempt to predict ground vibration in the design phase of a blast. This has been further modified by Oriard, Dupont, Konya & Konya, and others to develop more refined prediction models for specific situations to obtain better predictions. While these equations can be an ideal starting point for a greenfield blasting project or a project with no given information, these equations can have errors.

Jan 1, 2018

By Yang Jun, Qu Mei, Zheng Yao-wu, Chi Li-yuan

Due to the necessity of the prediction of blasting seismic effect around strip mine bench blasting area, the paper provides a method to predict the blasting seismic effect by employing the superposition of seed waveform at different monitoring points. The method assumes that blasting vibration waveform per hole is similar to seed waveform at monitoring point. Therefore seismic wave consists of the superposition of the waves from all of blast holes. Firstly, via sensors multiple seed waveforms can be achieved at different distances from signature hole. Then, by using the given dose and the distance, the vibration waveform of a certain blast hole can be calculated by the corresponding seed waveforms. Finally, the initiation delay time interval per hole is added to the propagation time to the predicting point. The predictive waveform at the whole blasting area can be obtained by superimposing all of the single waveforms. Considering the vibration waveform of a single blast hole changes greatly with the distance, under different distances condition the seed wave employed to superimpose is achieved from the similar distance. The experiments demonstrate that based on the method the predictive vibration waveform and spectrum are basically consistent with monitoring results around near-field blast. Compared with single seed wave method, the superposition method of multiple seed wave is more reliable to predict the duration of blasting vibration, the peak particle velocity, dominant frequency and frequency distribution.

Jan 1, 2015

By Jeffrey W. Lin, Larry B. Weston, Jonathan D. Abbott, Jordan L. Arthur

Hydrocarbon fuel oils are one of the main components of ammonium nitrate-based explosives, including ANFO (Ammonium Nitrate-Fuel Oil) and emulsions. While a wide variety of fuels can, and have, been used in the manufacture of ANFO and emulsion products, No. 2 diesel, particularly dyed, off-road diesel, is widely used due to its ready availability and use in fueling mining equipment. However, a number of alternatives to standard diesel have been introduced over recent years, namely, biofuels, ‘high-performance’ diesels, and renewable diesels. The pressure to adopt these alternative fuels come from a variety of sources, such as initiatives to reduce carbon footprints, increased lifetime of equipment, and cost-advantages from tax credits. While these factors may provide a very real benefit to the mine site, a consideration that is often missed is how the use of these fuels can impact the formulation and characteristics of the ammonium nitrate-based explosives. Herein will be presented a discussion of these alternative fuels from a chemical perspective as well as the results of several studies focused on how the inclusion of various alternative diesels influences the production and performance of ammonium nitrate explosives. ANFO and emulsion were manufactured using representative fuel sources and studying in terms of the manufacturing parameters, shelf-life, interaction with other chemicals using in mining explosives. Detonation data was then collected for these products and compared to the behavior of products made with standard diesel fuels.

Jan 21, 2025

By Claudio Lechuga, Carlos Scherpenisse, Juan Rafael Otaiza

From the analysis of drilling process, Block Model information, drilling pattern data and expected fragmentation targets; GBlast® software optimizes the explosive charge design in order to standardize the particle size of each blast.

Feb 1, 2020

By Michael Wieland

For shooting rock properly, some relatively fixed quantity of rock work is required from the total charge mass, while keeping the overall toxic fumes to a minimum. The overall fumes weighted for the toxicity of different species and taken per unit charge mass, ??, are represented by a relative fume toxicity (RFT) formula. The worst two contributions are often carbon monoxide {CO} and total nitrogen oxides {NOX}, so the traditional Russian formula RFT-R formula suffices, though a generalized form RFT-G with more terms is worth checking. Using the work-principle model from thermodynamics, the rock work per unit charge mass, ??, is found from the reduction in internal energy for the reaction zone. This resolution technique for rock-work invokes the usual assumption that the quick irreversible process occurs without notable heat transfer to the rock (adiabatic); rock-work is not resolved, when this restriction is untenable. The ratio of ?? to ?? yields the weighted toxic fumes divided by the rock work or the readjusted fume toxicity ??, where ?? = ??/??. For convenience, graphical trends of ??, ?? and ?? were normalized using reference results for a stoichiometric (ANFO) mixture of ammonium nitrate (AN) and fuel oil (FO) shot under nominal rock confinement, noted later.

Jan 1, 2006

By James A. McGrath

"The predominant key word associated with all commercial blasting methods is “safety”. Safetyshould take precedent over all other aspects of the entire explosives industry which on a wholehas had an excellent track record as to number of injuries per unit of hours worked at all blastsites throughout our country."

Jan 1, 1999

By Tom Paynter

In an underground mining environment, the primary method of firing a blast is using a combination of an electric detonator and a detonating cord to initiate the Nonelectric detonators. This method has been in use since the 1970’s. A firing line is used which can be subjected to damage and the need for constant testing and maintenance.

Jan 1, 2017

By W. J. Birch, M. Kirke

Despite increasing competition from mechanical methods of tunnelling, the drill and blast method is often still the most viable method of excavating tunnels in strong and abrasive rock. To advance a tunnel using drill and blast, explosives are loaded into boreholes in the rock and detonated according to a prearranged sequence. On detonation of the explosive, the rock is fractured and displaced from its original position, leaving behind the desired void. Among the secondary effects of a tunnel blast are ground vibrations caused by elastic disturbances that propagate away from the blasted tunnel face. The possibility that such ground vibrations may cause permanent damage to property and substantial nuisance has generated significant opposition to the use of drill and blast, particularly in urban areas. It is therefore essential that the blasting engineer is able to predict Peak Particle Velocity (PPV) vibration levels at locations in the vicinity of the blast site. Such predictive capability enables the engineer to design blasts so as to ensure that ground vibrations can be kept within acceptable levels. The objective of this project was to analyse data obtained from the ground vibration monitoring program undertaken during the drill and blast excavation of a hard rock tunnel in Central England. Seismograph recordings of tunnel blasts contain a vast amount of information that cannot possibly be expressed using a single PPV value. The main focus of the study was to investigate whether predictive capability could be improved by using scaled distance models derived for selected PPV components relating to specific detonator timings in a given tunnel round. This study has established a method of analysis that can unlock this information for predictive purposes. By permitting the extraction of sub-event Peak Particle Velocity (PPV) values and allowing Scaled Distance (SD) models to be derived for individual period numbers or groups of period numbers, the method has the potential to vastly improve PPV prediction from tunnel blasting. The method established could also help diagnose blasting problems and help target blast design modifications, resulting in improved efficiency and excavation rates.

Jan 1, 2005

By Robert Hopler

THIS paper deals specifically with heading-driving as distinguished from the broader term tunnel-driving. A heading is a pilot or path-finder for the main tunnel. Some headings are complete tunnels in themselves; that is, conditions at times warrant driving a heading the full diameter of the proposed tunnel. A tunnel 10 ft. in diameter might be driven to advantage through a single heading, provided the nature of the material admits, but it usually pays to drive rock tunnels of large diameter through the headingand-bench system. Much depends upon the material, as in soft ground tunnels of much larger diameter are driven in a single heading.

Jan 1, 2010

By C. K. McKenzie

Presents outline of flyrock model and a field procedure to validate predictions of maximum projection distance. Field results are presented from 13 field tests with two different hole diameters.

Feb 1, 2020

By Bethany Witter, Dyno Nobel

In the past decades, a technological explosion has caused generational shifts. First, millennials experienced a technological shift to computers and cellphones. Next, Generation Z experienced a shift to smart phones and social media. These two generations are immersed in technology and are accustomed to constant connectivity. How do the extractive and construction industries gain the interest of younger generations and integrate them into the industry?

Feb 1, 2020

By Richard R. Brochu

At the International Society ofExplosives Engineers Annual Conference held in Nashville, Tennessee in February 1995, a Seismograph Standards Committee was established. The purpose of this wmmittee was to develop objective performance specifications for vibration measurement instrumentation and field use practices. It was also understood that due to geology, temperature, and moisture in the soils, it is not possible to design and build an instrument to give ‘results which are absolutely comparable for ground vibration. It was, however, considered essential to standardize instrumentation by which vibration can be measured under closely defined conditions so that results obtained by users of seismographs are always the same ,&thin stated tolerances.

Jan 1, 1998

By Tassilo Baur

In the motion picture/television industry and to some extent in the entertainment industries in general, there is often a need to use energetic materials to create special effects as part of a production which travels, generally by truck. This can in certain instances create unique compliance challenges given that a production may change its filming location daily or even more often

Jan 1, 2009

By Charles Zdazinsky

Many blasting applications in the mining industry demand that the hard rock being blasted remains structurally competent. For example, pre-splitting is a common technique to reduce fracturing, and operators of dimension stone quarries use this blasting method to eliminate overbreak. When pre-split design parameters are not applied correctly, there will be a redistribution of stresses within the rock, resulting in Blast Induced Rock Damage (BID). Advances in geophysical technology are enabling blast technicians to monitor BID and then use the results to correctly design their blasts.

Jan 1, 2011

By Pavel A. Torres, Darwin Torres, Sandro Huaman

Given the limited efficiency of blast-induced ground vibrations prediction empirical models, due to the complex geological system from a Peruvian mine. An artificial neural network was built in order to get better results. More accurate and precise predictions allowed the generation of blasting domains for future designs and decision making.

Feb 1, 2020