EXPLOSIVES & BLASTING
To address this, a system was developed that
the nitrates from explosives interacting with
water during the blasting process, but, in order
to use plastic liners, blastholes have historically
needed to be dewatered so that the liner can
reach the bottom of the hole and stay there, the applies mineral oil to the bulk truck hose which
acts as a lubricant allowing the hose to be
withdrawn while keeping the plastic liner and
now on embracing technology and evolving as an
industry. This means increasing collaboration
between mines and their partners; we are miner said.
“For blastholes that refill with water, a new
approach was required,” Teck said.
To tackle this problem, Teck undertook a
research project to determine how plastic liners
could be used in blastholes that naturally refill
with water (often called dynamic blastholes). The safe and effective design,” the company said.
It is currently being piloted at Teck’s Fording
River and Greenhills operations, but the plan is
constantly being approached by our customers
to participate in new mining technologies, so we
work increasingly in collaboration with them to research project was led by Teck with support
from MAXAM, Teck’s explosives provider, and
Friesen Plastics, Teck’s liner supplier. Together, to implement the process across all of Teck’s
steelmaking coal operations in 2019, the
company said.
“As a result, every blasthole in the Elk Valley
that is operationally accessible will contain a
find solutions for the industry as a whole.” No to nitrate various combinations of procedures, liner
types/packaging and explosive bulk truck
modifications were trialled until a new system liner that protects both the explosive product
and the environment. This will significantly
reduce nitrate at source and help to protect
It is not only the vibration and noise that comes
with blasting that miners need to be aware of in
their environmental efforts; they also need to
ensure nitrogen-based explosives do not have an was developed.
Teck explained: “The emulsion in a liner
system involves using the charging hose on the
explosives truck to place the plastic liner in the water quality,” Teck said.
impact on the mine’s surroundings.
Spillage, dissolution in wet holes and
incomplete detonation during blasting activities
can result in soil and water contamination with bottom of a dynamic blasthole. The hole is then
loaded with water resistant explosive from the
bottom up, both filling the liner and keeping it in
dedicated division that commercialises its
technology to benefit customers, the company
says. Staffed by physicists, engineers and
chemists, it continuously improves various
aspects of the company’s offering – “from
emulsion formulations and blast modelling, to
mobile app technology and data transparency”.
Keenan said: “The landscape of Mining 4.0 is
no longer about commodities; rather, the focus is
nitrates, nitrites and ammonia.
MAXAM’s Huélamo says controlling nitrogen
leaching from blasting operations is an important
issue for the company and, on top of assisting
several mines on ways to control or reduce
leaching, it has been progressing processes for
this as a lead participant in the Sustainable Low
Impact Mining (SLIM) project, under the
European Commission’s Horizon 2020 initiative.
The objective of SLIM is to, according to
project organisers, “develop a cost-effective and
place. Once complete, the end result is a lined
blasthole with the explosives protected from the
water.”
For the plastic liner to be effectively placed
down the blasthole, a hydraulic arm and funnel
were added to the explosive bulk truck hose and
the traditional borehole plastic liners had to be
compressed into an accordion shape, according
to Teck. The hydraulic arm allows for the hose to
be placed directly over the blasthole and the
funnel removes the wrinkles from the
compressed plastic liner as it unfolds and is
sustainable selective low impact mining solution
based on non-linear rock mass fragmentation by
blasting models, airborne particulate matter, pushed to the bottom of the hole. “This ensures
consistent lining of every blasthole while
meeting our needs of durability and
vibration affections and nitrate leaching
mitigation actions for exploitation of small
mineral deposits including those with chemically functionality,” the company said.
A common problem identified during early
tests was the plastic liner being pulled back up
complex ore-forming phases.”
For this purpose, a new generation of
explosives and an advanced automatic blast
design software will be applied, according to the
organisers. This will be based on improved rock the blasthole as the hose was withdrawn.
mass characterisation and fragmentation models
for optimum fragmentation, minimum rock
damage and far-field vibrations.
MAXAM has been leading the development of
a solution to address the issue of nitrate leaching
within this project and, over on a different
continent, has been applying this expertise to
mine sites.
A recipient of this expertise is Teck, which has
been looking to improve water quality in the part
of British Columbia’s Elk Valley region it operates
in.
Teck was previously using plastic liners to stop
38 International Mining | AUGUST 2019
“The digital tools, physical products, and
drill and blast expertise within Dyno
Nobel allow for us to deliver minimised
overall operating costs when engaged as
a partner with the customer,” Braden
Lusk of DynoConsult says
blast material in the hole, Teck said.
“This process has now been successfully field
tested on over 400 holes and has proven to be a
Electronic initiation
Dyno Nobel, earlier this year, launched the
newest addition to its electronic initiation
portfolio, the EZshot ® .
This technology offers users the benefits of
accurate electronic timing with the ease of use of
the NONEL ® shock tube – a product designed to
initiate explosions – the company says.
“The EZshot detonator series is an exclusive
design for underground perimeter blasting. This
system gives the customer the ability to use
electronic timing for improved perimeter control,
helping them to save on time and overall
production costs,” Dyno Nobel said.
The electronic detonator, EZshot LP, has a
high-strength detonator in a heavy walled copper
shell with an electronic circuit board timing chip
providing precision and accuracy, according to
Dyno Nobel. “The smart chip technology in the
detonator delivers the timing needed that cannot
be reached with tradition non-electric
detonators,” the company said.
The electronic detonator comes in factory-
programmed delay times, ranging from 1,100 to