EXPLOSIVES AND BLASTING
understanding of what is occurring and therefore
allowing for greater control of the mine. “The
safety aspects of a visual format are also
beneficial in a mining operation. As drilling and
blasting presents many dangers to workers,
knowing what hole is about to be blasted or
drilled assists the mine operator their workers
are clear from any potential dangers.”
Pitram also has enhanced planning and
scheduling functionality, a feature which allows
for more control over your mining operation. The
High Precision GPS ensures the accurate
measure of drill holes, ensuring that errors are
reduced to a minimum. This in turn assists in the
planning and scheduling of the drill and blast
process as the reduction of errors allows mine
operators to plan this phase of the operation with
confidence and as the Carlson software is utilised
in other stages of the mining process, the
efficiency of the planning process is increased as
the software continues to help reduce errors.
Blast fragmentation analysis
WipWare recently released its latest software
that allows users to analyse blast fragmentation
in the field instantly, with no scaling object
required. Available through the iTunes app store,
WipFrag iOS 3.0 uses advanced trigonometry to
automatically scale the pile of interest,
drastically improving the analysis speed and
reducing the risk of injury when manually
placing scaling objects for reference. “Simply
capture the image with your iPad or iPhone, use
WipFrag’s superior edge detection parameters,
and output your sieve results to the cloud for
easy viewing.”
Don Collier of Wesco Explosives is one of over
400 users that have downloaded the WipFrag iOS
software: “The WipFrag IOS app has been a great
tool for my emulsion and electronic detonation
experiments, and I am amazed at how easy it is
to use.”
Tony Young, the MailFrag service specialist at
WipWare, also offered a review of the iOS
software. “Being able to use my finger or a stylus
to delineate the particles takes an image that
would’ve taken five minutes to analyse and
reduces that time down to one minute in most
cases.”
WipFrag 3.0 also allows users to crossreference fragmentation results to specific areas
of the pit using enhanced GIS tracking
capabilities. This new information will shed light
on blasting performance and make it much easier
for companies to benchmark and optimise
blasting procedures.
Clients also have a seamless transition to
WipWare’s online technologies, by using their
iPad or Windows computer to remote control
their conveyor belt monitoring systems
downstream.
International Mining | AUGUST 2016
WipFrag iOS 3.0 uses advanced trigonometry to
automatically scale the pile of interest
Further progress in alternatives to AN
For over 60 years the use of AN in commercial
explosives has been unchallenged; however,
CRCMining points out that ammonium nitrate has
some disadvantages, when AN based explosives
do not react efficiently due to a number of
uncontrollable and complex factors, harmful
nitrogen oxide fumes (NOx) can be generated.
“Nitrogen oxide and nitrogen dioxide can cause
serious health risks to persons exposed, with
excessive levels of NO2 also affecting the viability
of flora and root systems. Increased government
and media scrutiny of post blast fume generation
has had a direct impact on the mining industry’s
license to operate.”
Currently, engineering and administrative
controls exist to reduce the risk of the NOx
hazard. However in order to eliminate the hazard,
researchers from CRCMining and the School of
Mechanical and Mining Engineering of the
University of Queensland have developed and
tested an alternative explosive formulation. This
new formulation eliminates nitrogen oxide fume
emissions by using hydrogen peroxide as the
main oxidiser.
CRCMining project leader Dr Italo Onederra
EPC-Metrics offers a remote monitoring platform
for blast vibration and air over-pressure
says to date over 160 tests have been conducted
to characterise the detonation properties of this
new explosive. Results have shown velocities of
detonation between 2,200-5,500 m/s for a range
of densities (0.40-1.10 g/cc).
“As part of the program, a prototype system
has been designed to enable the manufacture
and delivery of the product on site. Further tests
continue to quantify product stability and
compatibility with different ground conditions,”
Dr Onederra said.
“This new technology, which replaces
ammonium nitrate, could be a step-change for the
industry. It has the potential to offer different
alternatives and possibilities to mining companies.
It also provides an independent avenue to conduct
explosive and blasting technology research that
was previously the domain of explosive
manufacturers,” Dr Onederra said.
The research is led by CRCMining and UQ with
funding from the Australian Coal Association
Research Program.
EPC-Metrics remote vibration
monitoring
EPC-Metrics was recently launched at the
Hillhead quarrying exhibition by EPC-UK in
partnership with Datum Monitoring. The service
offers a remote monitoring platform for blast