Research into man-made impact of rock blasting in surface mining of mineral deposits

Abstract

The topicality of this research is defined by the increasing volume of mining operations near settlements and production infrastructure, as well as by the increasing unit capacity of mining and haulage equipment and, consequently, by the growing volume of rock mass simultaneously blasted and prepared for excavation. Changes in the mining conditions at the operations of UK Kuzbassrazrezugol JSC have been analyzed. A brief analysis of research results on various factors affecting the degree of man-made impact of the blasting operations is presented. One of the ways to safely increase the volume of simultaneously blasted rock mass is the introduction of energy-saving environmentally friendly technologies in production and use of plastic explosives, which would ensure higher completeness of chemical transformations and the efficiency of the blast through the use of special fuel mixtures containing surfactants instead of diesel fuel in the compositions of granular industrial explosives. This will increase the contact surface area of the fuel and the oxidizer by several orders of magnitude as well as the stability and the energy-output ratio of the blasting charges with the zero oxygen-combustible balance. Reducing the consumption of explosives, energy intensity of mining, the man-made impact of blasting operations on the environment, the seismic action of the blast, the radius of the hazardous zone - all of this can be achieved by using charges placed in hoses of variable diameter when blasting wet and dry rock masses. The article shows the dependence of changes in the load on the atmosphere with increasing distance from the blast epicenter and with increasing weight of simultaneously detonated explosives in surface mining operations, as well as the dependence between the yield of fines and the size of the gap between the charge and the charging chamber.