Pit wall stability and drilling-and-blasting

Abstract

The author describes discipline of wall control blasting in open pit mining. The introduction procedure of the special drilling-and-blasting technology at ultimate pit limits includes analysis of blast effects on pit wall rock mass, finding of consistent patterns of wave processes in rocks, determination of introduction between charges in perimeter blasting depending on rock mass strength, semicommercial testing of cutback methods, staging of process blasting in critical areas as well as identification of drilling-and-blasting efficiency criteria. Analysis of seismic wave propagation in rocks under dynamic impact and initiation of stress waves allows setting parameters of destructive effect of explosions in production blocks. At the same time, determination of seismic stability in the zone of destructive effect of blasts makes it possible to select the most sound and moderate drilling-and-blasting regimes and to maintain pit wall slope stability.