Assessment of Charge Initiation Techniques Effect on Blast Fragmentation and Environmental Safety: An Application of WipFrag Software
Blessing Olamide Taiwo,
Yewuhalashet Fissha,
Thomas Palangio,
Andrew Palangio,
Hajime Ikeda,
Nageswara Rao Cheepurupalli,
Naseer Muhammad Khan,
Adams Abiodun Akinlabi,
Oluwaseun Victor Famobuwa,
Joshua Oluwaseyi Faluyi,
Youhei Kawamura
Affiliations
Blessing Olamide Taiwo
Mining Engineering Department, Federal University of Technology, Akure 340252, Nigeria
Yewuhalashet Fissha
Department of Geosciences, Geotechnology and Materials Engineering for Resources, Graduate School of International Resource Sciences, Akita University, Akita 010-0852, Japan
Thomas Palangio
Wipware Inc., North Bay, ON P1B 4Z5, Canada
Andrew Palangio
Wipware Inc., North Bay, ON P1B 4Z5, Canada
Hajime Ikeda
Department of Geosciences, Geotechnology and Materials Engineering for Resources, Graduate School of International Resource Sciences, Akita University, Akita 010-0852, Japan
Nageswara Rao Cheepurupalli
Department of Mining Engineering, Bule Hora University, Bule Hora P.O. Box 144, Ethiopia
Naseer Muhammad Khan
Department of Sustainable Advanced Geomechnical Engineering, Military College of Engineering, National University of Sciences and Technology, Risalpur 232002, Pakistan
Adams Abiodun Akinlabi
Mining Engineering Department, Federal University of Technology, Akure 340252, Nigeria
Oluwaseun Victor Famobuwa
Department of Mining Engineering, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA
Joshua Oluwaseyi Faluyi
Mining Engineering Department, Federal University of Technology, Akure 340252, Nigeria
Youhei Kawamura
Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-8628, Japan
Blast charge initiation procedures have a significant impact on both mining safety and production rates. In this study, the inventory benefit of an electric initiation system was investigated to assess its influence on both fragmentation and blast-induced damages. The WipFrag software was used to examine the size distribution and productivity of 12 small-scale blasts initiated by both nonelectric and electric detonators. All blast rounds were initiated with plain-type electric and NONEL detonators. The average burden, spacing, stemming length, and charge weight were, respectively, 0.85 m, 1.10 m, 0.66 m, and 1.1 kg. The results showed that the mesh through which 80% of the blast fragments passed for the electric blast was smaller than the mesh through which the material products from the NONEL blast passed. The results also demonstrated that the generated blast-induced ground vibration (PPV) from all blast rounds for electric blast varied from 0.4–1.2 mm/s and 80–105 dB, while that for nonelectric blast ranged from 0.05–0.2 mm/s and 72–95 dB. As a result, the electric blast initiation technique was found to produce good fragmentation, with a higher percentage of optimum fragment sizes on spec than nonelectrically initiated blasts.
