Evaluation of blast fragmentation and its benefits: a review of the paradigm and ambiguity

Wrong blasting can lead to various degrees of inefficiencies in the subsequent mining processes. It is therefore necessary to constantly evaluate blast results and optimise the process. Good blasting provides cheaper benefits when compared to crushing and grinding. Good blast may be expensive but its technical and economic benefits override such an intensive cost. Blast benefits are based on the size distribution of muckpile and the degree of induced microcracks. The size distribution can be visually accessed qualitatively as either good or poor, and quantitatively by screening or different image analysis techniques. However, screening is the only direct and most accurate method of evaluating fragmentation but not suitable for large projects. Though the microcracks can be seen with a specialised microscope but can only be assessed systematically through the study of production output and energy consumption. This paper reviews the benefits, paradigm and the ambiguity of evaluating blast fragmentation.