2014/03/26

How does a change in Powder Factor affect your blast

March 2014

Wealth
Unearthed

Where we are now

S335 doped emulsion
Emulsion ~ 65%
AN prill ~ 35%
Base density 1.32 1.36 g/cc
Sensitised density 1.05 1.25g/cc (AEL Catalogue)
Sensitised density 1.05 1.10g/cc (KPC)

Technical Properties
Surface Bulk Products

2014/03/26

Blasting parameters

Hole diameter = 200mm

Hole depth = 12
Burden = 8.0m Spacing = 9.0m

Theoretically.
Rock type
Normal Controlled
The hole diameter dictates the
bench
height
and
stemming
Flyrock factor (Z) Hard
1.0
1.5
Medium
Soft

Normal Controlled

height
Flyrock factor - Z
Rock Factor - A

0.50
8

0.75
0.5

1.0
0.75

0.75
8

Bench height Hole diameter/15 = 13.0m

W- Mass of explosives in 8
hole diameters, or in the

kg
60.3 = 60.3
Stemming
height
Hole diameter x 30 = 6.0m Stemming

charge column if this is less

Hole diameter

mm

Explosive
Relative Effective Energy - E

200

200

S130

S130

1.2

1.2

Rock type Normal Controlled

Rule of Thumb

Stemming

Hard

20

30

Crushed Stone

Medium

25

35

Drill Cuttings

Charge length =158Bench

Height
stemming
height
= 7.0m
158
Hole diameters
Hard
30
40
Drill Cuttings

Density

g/cc

37.7
Average in hole 37.7
density
= 1.15g/cc Soft

kg/m

Stemming (T)

3.4

5.1

15

25

2
3

Drill Cuttings

1 Clean Crushed Stone, mean size, 1/10th Hole diameter

2 Crushed Stone, tests show not
2 as effective in medium to soft rockm potential flyrock
3 Columns shorter than 20 d generally cause noise, airblast, flyrock and overbreak.

Mass per
metre for
S335
= (1.15 x 200 )/1273 = 36.1kg
Hole diameters
15
25

Rule of thumb
Stemming (T)

3.0

5.0

The optimum stemming length, depends very largely on rock properties and degree of
Mass per hole = 36.1 x 7.0 =
252.95kg/hole
confinement
and can vary from about 20 to 60 d.

4 The 8x is derived from principles of cratering

Bench height must be more than T + 8 hole diameters

Volume/hole = 8 x 9 x 13 = 936m3
Powder Factor = 252.95/936 = 0.27kg/m3

Theoretically.

Technical
Powder Factor
(kg/m3)

Rock Factor

UCS
(MPa)

Andesite
Dolerite
Granite
Ironstone
Silcrete

0.70 - 0.90

12-14

>250

Medium

Dolomite
Hornfels
Quartzite
Serpentine*
Schist*

0.40 - 0.50

10-11

100 - 250

Soft

Sandstone
Calcrete
Limestone
Shale

0.25 - 0.35

8-9

50 - 100

Very Soft

Coal

0.15 - 0.25

< 50

Blasting Category

Rock Type

Hard

2014/03/26

How Powder Factor can be adjusted

Change in explosives type (emulsion vs ANFO)

Change hole diameter, keep burden and spacing the same
Keep stemming height

constant, change

burden

and

spacing
Change stemming height, keep burden and spacing the
same

Comparison
Hole depth (m)
Hole diameter (mm)
Explosives S335 (g/cc)
15d
20d
25d
30d
35d
40d

12
200
Mc
1.15
Stemming (m) Charge length (m)
3
9
4
8
5
7
6
6
7
5
8
4

36.1
kg/hole
325.2
289.1
252.9
216.8
180.7
144.5

7.0 x 7.5
630
0.52
0.46
0.40
0.34
0.29
0.23

7.5 x 8.0
720
0.45
0.45
0.35
0.30
0.25
0.20

8.0 x 8.5
864
0.38
0.38
0.29
0.25
0.21
0.17

8.5 x 9.0
918
0.35
0.35
0.28
0.24
0.20
0.16

9.0 x 9.0
972
0.33
0.33
0.26
0.22
0.19
0.15

8.0 x 9.0
864
0.38
0.38
0.29
0.25
0.21
0.17

Comparison
Powder Factor increases with smaller B and S
Powder Factor decreases as stemming height increases
Powder Factor decreases with larger B and S and lower stemming
7.0 x 7.5

9.0 x 9.0

Drilling
Drilling costs
costs

8.0 x 9.0

0.50

Powder Factor kg/m3

Finer fragmentation

0.55

0.45

Explosives
Explosives costs
costs

0.40

Load
Load and
and Haul
Haul
costs
costs

0.35
0.30
0.25

Secondary
Secondary
breaking
breaking costs
costs

0.20
3

4
5
Stemming Height (m)

Coarser fragmentation

2014/03/26

Changing Powder Factor by changing density

Use average density to calculate mass per hole
Emuldens to calculate density
Factors include
Depth of hole and hydrostatic pressure
Shape of the borehole

Changing Powder Factor by changing density

Thank you