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A Practical Approach For Blasters to Determine The Optimal Bench Blasting Conditions
Ali Kahriman, Gungor Tuncer & Abdulkadir Karadogan Istanbul University, Engineering Faculty, Mining Engineering Department-34850-Avcilar, Istanbul, Turkey Kagan Ozdemir Istanbul University, Institute of Science, Vezneciler, Istanbul, Turkey

Abstract In the bench blasting, the realisation of an economic, and safe blasting is only possible with a reliable blasting design on condition that considering all sequential activities such as drillingblasting, excavation-loading, haulage, crushing (especially primer crushing). Here what we mean with a good, and reliable design is that ensures an almost displaced, adequately swelled muckpile with desired fragmentation degree for the loaders effectivity, and succesive usage. Meanwhile it must also has no environmental problems such as ground vibration, air blast, and rock flyings, or at least these matters have to be minimised. Two main parameters which have generally being questioned to achieve a safe and economic design on any rock conditions, are specific charge, and burden. In the condition of determining these elements, the other blasting parameters could be calculated according to them, and the blasting design could be completed. Within the scope of this study, it was aimed to determine the optimal blasting conditions of gypsum which is major rock unit of overburden at Sivas Celestine open pit mine. First of all, the engineering (mass, and material) and digging difficulty classifications of gypsum were done according to the current classification systems by using the results of field and laboratory studies. Then the blasting system which was being used on all rock units, was considered, and the necessary data were obtained. After previewing the site properties, predesigns were done, and applied by adopting Langefors design model. The necessary adjustments were done before, during, and after the shots, and the applications were observed. In order to determine, and record the data from each shots properly, a practical form was developed, and all data were transfered to these forms which give information about the blasting results such as muckpile displacement, and height, average particle size, back break, and rock fly existence, number of boulders etc. The blasting parameters such as burden, hole diameter, hole inclination, the amount and position of primers, bench height, delay sequence, and blasting geometry were considered for the iteration of each shots. During the applications, ANFO, gelatine dynamite, and electric delay detonators were used as explosives.
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This work was supported by the Executive Secreterait of Scientific Research Projects of Istanbul University (Project numbers are 39/11092002, 1056/031297, UDP-46/24072002 and UDP-93/20122002 )

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Introduction
The portion of the cost of drilling and blasting among the whole operation costs, varies between 10-35 % of overall costs(depends on if the optimal blasting conditions are proved or not) in open pit mining. This cost interval is more important considering the present mines increasing operational capacities. Choosing the proper explosives, and obtaining the proper blasting pattern in use, can ensure important decreases on production costs. The proper blasting conditions which are to be obtained, must not only fit with the economy, and technology but also ensure a secured mine, and neighbourhood. The importance of drilling and blasting can be seen from both cost analyses of the operations, and the availability of completing the other operations in mine rapidly. However, evaluating the drilling and blasting costs alone in the cost analyses at mines, is not enough to express the success of the blasting clearly. As the activities are happening consecutively, the effect of drilling and blasting also has to be analysed according to the other operations. This is possible with analysing the performances of each equipments, and machines used for all subsequent operations. The approach of anticipating the cost minimisation only on drilling and blasting, will cause an overlooking at the increases on consecutive operations costs. Meanwhile when the optimal drilling and blasting conditions are determined, considering the environmental issues such as ground vibrations, air blast, and noise; the total cost of the following operations such as loading, hauling, crushing and the reclamation could be decreased, and consequently the overall results of mine would be progressed positively (Kahriman, 1995). Within the scope of this study an intensive work was realized to determine the optimal blasting conditions for the blasting operations held on gypsum formations of overburden at celestite open pit mine owned by Barit Maden Turk Company in Sivas-Ulas Akkaya Village.

Test Site Description

Sivas-Ulas Akkaya region celestite open pit mine which has been produced by Barit Maden Turk Company , located nearby Akkaya Village, 3 km east of the 27th km of Sivas-Malatya Highway on the central of Anatolia, near the Sivas province, as seen in figure 1. The encountered dominant rock units formed the overburden at the mine are gypsum and anhydride. Figure 1: Location of the celestite open-pit mine (Kahriman and Ceylanoglu, 1996)

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The ore production capacity of the mine is about 50.000 tonnes per year and overburden excavation program is 120.000 m3 per year. The average working period is 5 months. The drilling and blasting is necessary for both ore and overburden excavation. The available drillers are able to drill holes with 65, 89, 102 mm diameters. One Liebherr 962 excavator with 3,5 m3 bucket and one Caterpillar 973 loader with 2, 8 m3 bucket capacity run the loading operation (Kahriman and Ceylanoglu, 1996).

Optimization Procedures
As the importance of blasting is well known in the production cycle, many studies have been concentrated on the parameters affect the blast efficiency. Different working conditions complicate the blast design. In addition, blasting is a complex operation affected by many factors which have been indicated by many authors (Langefors and Kihlstrm, 1978; Tamrock, 1984; Atlas Powder, 1985; Olofsson, 1988; Konya and Walter, 1990; Bilgin and Pasamehmetoglu, 1993; Singh, 1993). Before the blasting optimization works, initially the studied rock units were analyzed considering the engineering (mass and material) and digability classifications by using the results of field and laboratory studies. The current blasting system, which had being used by the company, was observed with the knowledge of rock characteristics, and new pre-blast designs were done and applied adopting Langefors blasting model (Langefors and Kihlstrm, 1978). The necessary planning was done for each shot before, and during the shots, and the researchers accompanied the applications. Each pre-blast designs results were considered by evaluating the muckpile swelling, displacement, fragmentation, and performance analyses. In order to determine, and record the data from each shot properly, three practical forms which are given in table 1 (a), (b) and (c) were developed, and all data were transfered to these forms which give information about the blasting parameters and results such as muckpile displacement, and height, average particle size, back break, and rock fly existence, number of boulders etc. The parameters, and results of 5th shot which proved the optimal blasting conditions for gypsum I rock unit were given on these tables as an example. During the iteration of each shot, the parameters such as hole diameter and inclination, priming amount and location, burden, bench height, delay pattern, and shot geometry were considered. Using the existing explosive products (ANFO, gelatine dynamite, electric delay detonators) that have being used by the company, was an obligation. All pre-blasts were designed considering the production target in order not to hinder the work program as well (Kahriman and Ceylanoglu, 1996). The results after each pre-blast design were evaluated by observing the muckpile conditions, and the other parameters mentioned above. The maximum, and average particle size, and the distance of muckpile displacement were measured by tape meter in order to determine the muckpile geometry, and particle size distribution. Additionally 2 m X 2 m wooden grid with 50 cm fraction, was used as a practical tool to obtain the average particle size. These factors were also were recorded to the evaluation form which is given in table 1. b).

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Table 1: a) Bench Blast Report Form

Table 1: b) Blast Design Evaluation Form

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There have been some digital image processing softwares which can assess the fragmentation more easily and accurately in recent years. These kind of softwares are very suitable for considering the blasting according to fragmentation. However the pratical fragmentation assessment applications as we had realised in this study, can be adopted any optimisation studies, and give similar results on the field. During the evaluations, when it was necessary to remember the blast, photographs of the muckpile was shot, and added to the reports. Additionally in order to measure the equipments performance as being one of the stages of the optimisation procedure, excavation, and loader operations were observed, and the cycle periods were taken under record on the tables as seen in table 1 c). In the condition of the necessity of using the hydraulic hammer to break the boulders, and bulldozer to make the floor smooth, these operations were also observed and their working times were recorded. Table 1: c) Performance Analysis Form

On the other hand, the environmental effects of the blasting such as ground vibration, airblast, and fly rocks also have to be observed and monitored to ensure the mine and neighbourhood in secured. The vibration monitors have to be in charge during the shots for this purpose, and ground vibration parameters have to be analysed according to the damage risk criteria. During the current study the mentioned concept was take into consideration. The ground vibration components and air blast were measured by suitable monitors during every trial shots, and the results of the measurements were considered for progressing to new pre-blast designs.

Blasting Optimization for Gypsum Rock Unit

According to the rock mass and material properties, it was decided that gypsum rock unit must be seperated in two sections because of having different discontinuties sets with different properties (dip, bed separation, hardness, joint sets, orientation and spacing of joints and degree

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of weathering) and the rock must be blasted differently by creating two benchs (Ceylanoglu, 1995). So that in this study gypsum rock unit was assumed to be as Gypsum I and Gypsum II with 16 m and 15 m bench heights respectively, shown in figure 2. Therefore optimisation studies for gypsum rock unit was realised in two parts individually. Figure 2: Layout of the test benchs

Gypsum I

16m

G y p s u m II O re

15m

Optimization for Gypsum I Rock Unit

Within the scope of this study, 6 trial shots were realised in order to determine the optimal blasting conditions on gypsum I rock unit at Sivas-Ulas Akkaya celestite open pit mine. At the designs of all pre-blasts, the shot results were evaluated by means of muckpile distribution, fragmentation degree, existence of boulder, back break and toe. Short-term excavator performance measurements, approximately 1 hour were also carried out to determine blast efficiency. Cycle times (including dipper, swing and unloading times), fill factor, operator experience, energy consumption etc., were carefully recorded. The condition and the height of the bench faces were also taken into consideration. The bench face was formed as concave, so that the occurance of back breaks on the corners were prevented. The parameters of these 6 shots, and the productivity, and the cost analyses are given in table 2 and table 3 respectively. Table 2: The Parameters of Blast Designs of Gypsum I
Shot No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Hole Diameter (mm) 89-102 89 89 102 89 89 Bench Height (m) 15 14.5 15 15 15 3.5 Hole Deviation (degree) 83-85 85 83-80 80-75 75 83 Burden (m) 2.8 3.8 3.8 4 3.1 2 Spacing (m) 3 4.8 4.8 5 3.7 2.6 Powder Factor (kg/m3) ANFO 0.602 0.320 0.298 0.551 0.487 0.531 Dynamite 0.121 0.021 0.013 0.025 0.0081 0.045 Specific Drilling (m/m3) 0.125 0.068 0.068 0.083 0.097 0.185

Considering the cost analyses results from table 3, it can be seen that after adopting optimal blasting parameters, an acceptable optimal operational costs can be determined, and ripping operation can be eliminated.

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Table: 3 The Unit Cost Analyses for Gypsum I Blast Designs

Unit Costs ($/m3) Shot Loading Hydrolic No. Drilling Explosives Ripping 962 973 Crushing Exc. Loader 0.158 0.491 0.225 1 0.086 0.172 0.02 0.1 0.387 0.226 2 0.086 0.136 0.025 0.09 0.29 0.211 3 0.1055 0.26 0.02 0.23 0.315 0.195 4 5 0.123 0.178 0.01 0.282 0.193 0.234 0.33 0 0.188 6

Total
Hauling 0.97 0.97 0.97 0.97 0.97 0.97

962
1.715 1.597 1.901 1.553

973 1.69 1.554 1.518 1.781 1.474 1.722

Gathering all these productivity analyses values together, it can be understood that the 5th blast design gives the most proper results on this rock unit. Evaluating the other observative data with these results as well, the best blasting conditions for this rock is the one which was applied on the 5th design, so it was finalised as the optimised blast design for Gypsum I at celestite open pit mine (Kahriman, 1995).

Optimization for Gypsum II Rock Unit

Following the same procedures 10 trial shots were realised to obtain the optimal blasting conditions for Gypsum II rock unit. After applying all pre-blast designs one by one , the parameters were adjusted to give the best results. The best results were reached after the 8th blast design. The back break, and fly rocks which had been seen at the other shots,were also not seen on this shot. Finally the 8th shot was accepted as the best, and finalised as the optimised blast design (Kahriman, 1995). Additionally the 9th shot were done to test the parameters of the 8th shot, and 10th shot was realised at 3.5 m bench height to progress the relation between powder factor and rock properties. Table 4: The Parameters of Blast Designs of Gypsum II
Shot No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Hole Diameter (mm) 89 89 89 89 102 89 89 89 89 89 Bench Height (m) 14.5 15 15 3.5 15 15 8.5 15 15 3.25 Hole Deviation (degree) 83 83 83 85 83-85 78.5-77 80 76.5-75 75 80 Burden (m) 2.8 3 3.6 2.4 3.3 3 3 3 3.2 2.1 Spacing (m) 3 3.8 4.5 2.4 4.1 3.65 3.6 3.6 4 2.8 Powder Factor (kg/m3) ANFO 0.631 0.356 0.323 0.317 0.567 0.586 0.589 0.570 0.483 0.451 Dynamite 0.185 0.059 0.049 0.042 0.007 0.009 0.010 0.009 0.0095 0.045 Specific Drilling (m/m3) 0.144 0.098 0.071 0.181 0.084 0.104 0.106 0.103 0.088 0.183

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Table 5: The Unit Cost Analyses for Gypsum II Blast Designs

Unit Costs ($/m3) Loading Hydrolic Drilling Explosives 962 973 Crushing Exc. Loader 0.178 0.6712 0.01 0.336 0.262 0.121 0.2652 0.01 0.286 0.286 0.091 0.236 0.029 0.25 0.223 0.301 0.198 0.104 0.1998 0.01 0.412 0.214 0.1285 0.2126 0.005 0.216 0.131 0.22 0.189 0.127 0.205 0.175 0.109 0.1801 0.005 0.386 0.222 0.2262 0.308 0.193

Shot No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Total Hauling 0.97 0.97 0.97 0.97 0.97 0.97 0.97 0.97 0.97 0.97 962 973

2.1652 2.092 1.6549 1.576 1.692 1.6958 1.4978 1.5321 1.464 1.477 1.6501 1.4861 1.6972

Conclusion
This paper summarisez the bench blasting optimisation for gypsum rock unit of overburden at Sivas-Ulas Akkaya celestite open pit mine, and gives a practical approach for this purpose. Following the optimisation procedures, every pre-blast design of which parameters, and results had been measured and recorded carefully, was progressed to get the best fit results considering the economy, technology, and the productivity of the consecutive operations while also maintaining the mine and neighbourhood in secure. Test results showed that together with the other blast parameters, the hole inclination was an effective factor on the desirable results (especially isolating of environmental problems such as backbreak, fly rock, air blast and ground vibration) where it was determined 75 for this mine. During the study, it has been seen that the excavation and/or loading performances and the muckpile homogeneousity are fairly important when evaluating the blasting productivity. Furthermore creating a good accurate blast report can ensure so many advantages to a blaster in order to progress the blast design for the best conditions on a specific site.

Acknowledgement
This work was supported by the Executive Secreterait of Scientific Research Projects of Istanbul University (Project numbers are 39/11092002, 1056/031297, UDP-46/24072002 and UDP-93/20122002 ) The authors are greatful to the Executive Secreterait of Scientific Research Projects of Istanbul University for their financial support and to the staff of Barit Maden Turk Company for their hospitality and help during the field investigations.

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References
Atlas Powder Company, 1985, Handbook of Explosives and Rock Blasting, Dallas, Texas, USA Bilgin, H.A., Pasamehmetoglu, A.G., 1986, A Study on the Blastability, and Digability of Rocks, 1. National Rock Mechanics Symposium, November 1986, Ankara Ceylanoglu A., 1995, The Determination and Evaluation of Clestite Ore, and Overburden Rock Mass and Material Properties in Sivas-Ulas Region, TMMOB, Mining Journal, Vol. 34, No.4, pp. 11-19, Ankara Gustafsson, R., 1973, Swedish Blasting Technique, Gothenburg, Sweden Kahriman, A., 1995, Determining the Optimal Blasting Conditions, and Relation of Rock Properties of Sivas Ulas Region Celestite Ore and Overburde, Doctorate Thesis, C.U., Sivas Kahriman, A., Ceylanoglu, A., 1996, Blast Design and Optimization Studies for a Celestite Open-Pit Mine in Turkey, Mineral Resources Engineering, Vol. 5, No.2 pp 93-106 Konya, C.J., Walter, E.J., 1990, Surface Blast Design, New Jersey, USA Langefors, U., Kihlstrm, B., 1978, The Modern Technique of Rock Blasting, Third Edition, Stockholm, Sweden Olofsson, S.O., 1988, Applied Explosives Technology for Construction and Mining, Sweden Singh, O.P., 1993, Blasting Ground Excavations and Mines, Rotterdam, Netherlands Tamrock, 1984, Handbook of Surface Drilling and Blasting, Painofaktorit, Finland

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