Document Type : Original Research Paper
Authors
- Kamel Menacer 1
- Abderrazak Saadoun 2
- Abdellah Hafsaoui 3
- Mohamed Fredj 2
- Abdelhak Tabet 3
- Djamel Eddine BOUDJELLAL 3
- Riadh Boukarm 2
- Radouane Nakache 3
1 LAVAMINE Laboratory, Faculty of Earth Sciences, Badji Mokhtar University, Annaba, 23000, Algeria
2 Mining and Geology Department, Faculty of Technology, University of Bejaia, Bejaia 06000, Algeria
3 LAVAMINE Laboratory, Mining Department, Faculty of Earth Sciences, Badji Mokhtar University, Annaba, 23000, Algeria
Abstract
Mining blasting efficiency is essential for mining operations for economic and technical reasons. Rock blasting operations should be conducted optimally to obtain a particle size distribution that optimises downstream operations, such as loading, transport, crushing, and grinding. The nature of the stemming material significantly impacts the degree of rock fragmentation during mining operations. Stemming refers to the material used to fill the space above explosives in a borehole, which helps confine the explosive energy and optimise rock fragmentation during detonation.
This study aims to evaluate the stemming materials and their effect on the particle size distribution of blasted rocks at the Chouf Amar quarry in M'Sila, Algeria. The analyses performed in this study indicate that the blasting results obtained by the company reflect poor fragmentation quality, with a significant quantity of oversized fragments, making up 20–23% of the total pieces. To address this issue, a new operational blasting plan is proposed to enhance fragmentation quality. This plan employed three stemming materials: drill cuttings, 3/8 crushed aggregates, and sand. The test blasts were performed in a limestone quarry, and the results were evaluated using the highly reliable and widely respected image analysis software WipFrag 3.3. The results reveal that using crushed aggregates as stemming material significantly improves fragmentation quality, reducing the proportion of oversized fragments from an average of 23% (with sand stemming) to 2.6%.
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