Final Wall Stability in Metal Open

Pit Mines Using Presplit Blasting

Kazem Oraee
Ali Mozafari
Arash Goodarzi
Nikzad Oraee-Mirzamani
 Importance of presplit drilling and blasting in open pit mines
 slope stability study is one of the most considerable parameter for safety and economical factors of
open pit mines.
 failure of mines’ walls can potentially cause loss of lives, roads blocking, damaging to mining
machinery, temporarily or permanently halt production and in the worst case scenario closing the
mine.

Production and Mining Benefits

• Ability to maintain safe conditions in mine

• Increased stability of the rock wall

• Improved stripping ratios

• Reduction in ore dilution

• Less broken rock to load and transport

• Reducing the vibration level in the rock mass

• Minimizing production schedule disturbances for mine stability
comparison with mechanical rock reinforcement
Wall failure in an open pit mine
Failure in Pit Slop in Grasberg Gold Mine in Indonesia in 2003

The Grasberg mine is the largest gold mine in the world

Failure in Pit Slop Angouran Lead Mine in Iran 2006
Wall Failure in Pit Slop Angouran Lead & Zinc Mine in
Iran 2006
25 million tons rock slide
 Pit wall stability is dependent on:

• geotechnical and hydrogeological issues

• level of design safety (based on risk assessments)

• ability to secure the ground (scaling, ground

support, slope dewatering)

• detrimental effects of blasting

 General Principals of Control Blasting
drilling smaller diameter blasting holes along
the final excavation boundary

 drilling straight holes

charging with lower explosive than main holes

firing holes in sequential timescale

 Controlled Blasting Methods

 Line blasting

 Smooth blasting

 Cushion blasting

 Presplit blasting
 Presplit Hole Design
 As a general guide for the presplit holes, spacing
can be 8 to 12 times of the hole diameter or about
one third to less than one half of the normal spacing
used in production blast holes. It also can be
determined by using the following equation:
S ≤ 2 rb × 2.54 × (Pb + T) / T
• Where S = Spacing between two presplit holes (cm)
• rb = Borehole radius ( cm)
• Pb = Borehole pressure ( Mpa)
• T = Tensile strength of rock( Mpa)
In this equation borehole detonation pressure can be
calculated by:
Pb = 1.69 × 10-3 Ye (VOD)2 (re / rb)2.6

• Where Pb = Borehole pressure in psi

• Ye = Specific gravity of explosives

• VOD = Detonation velocity of explosive charge ft/s

• re = Radius of explosive charge in inches

• rb = Radius of borehole in inches

Bore hole detonation pressure (Pa) for the full
charge hole can be calculated by:

Pd = × Ye × (VOD)2 × 106

• Where Pd = Detonation pressure (MPa)

• Ye = Density of explosive (kg/m3)

• VOD = Velocity of detonation (m/s)

 Buffer Holes Design
(Buffer row is used to minimize blasting damage from production row to final wall)

 Normally the spacing and burden of about 2/3rd of

production holes are used in buffer row but if presplit
and buffer rows are of same diameter then, the burden
in front of the presplit row to buffer row should be 1.5
times the presplit spacing holes and in case of different
diameters, then diameter of buffer holes can be set to
12 to 15 times of presplit holes diameter.
 As a general rule, when the diameters of production and
buffer holes are the same, then the burden and spacing
of the buffer row should be 70 to 80% of the production
blast holes.
 Hole Charge Distribution
 Powder factors will normally range from 1.6 to 4.8 kg/m3

 The ratio of the charge diameter to hole is about 0.3 – 0.4

 The specific charge recommended for presplit holes is

0.35 to 0.5 kg/m2 and generally charge factor in buffer
hole is about 75% of a production hole

 The charge density has to be reduced to 5 to 15 percent

of the charge in production holes
 Presplit Charging Methods
Common charging methods in presplit holes to minimize near field blast damage

Air deck Suspended Low density Continues column

charging charging charging charging
Guidelines are offered by Gustafsson, 1981,
DuPont Hand Book, 1977, etc. which
recommends the charge loads and blast hole
pattern for presplitting as shown at the below
table:

Hole Diameter Charge Mass / Meter of Cartridge Presplit Space

(mm) Blast hole(kg) Diameter(mm) (m)

89 0.65 23 1.0
102 1.0 29 1.4
115 1.0 29 1.4
152 1.8 45 1.8
 Shooting the Presplit Line
 In order to make a free face to reflect shock wave
resulted from blasting in production holes, the
presplit row must be fired at least 50ms before the
main production blast.
 As a rule, if the presplit holes are to be detonated
with production blast holes, generally 200 to 350ms
(not more) of delaying interval between presplit
holes and the nearest production row or buffer row
is recommended.
 To achieve optimum presplit results, zero detonation
delay (simultaneous blasting) to be used between
presplit holes, although if the numbers of holes in
presplit row are more than usual pattern, blasting
may be done in separate groups with minimum delay
in sequence.
 Presplit Drilling & Blasting Key Points
• hole spacing and charging dependent on hole size, rock strength,
explosive strength and decoupling ratio

• highly jointed rock requires closer hole spacing than massive rock

• when firing presplit row with production row, a minimum of 200 -

350 milliseconds time delay between presplit holes and nearest
production holes is recommended

• use zero delays between holes to achieve optimum presplit results

• a bottom charge is often used to assure that the toe is pulled

• straight hole drilling is a necessity

 Chador Malu Iron Mine Site Profile
Chador Malu iron ore mine with 400 million tons
of ore reserve is the biggest iron concentrate
producer in Middle East, located in 180km north-
east of Yazd province in central Iran.
Reconnaissance for the Chador Malu deposit was
first done in 1921 and more detailed work was
carried out in the beginning of 1960s.
Petrography studies on the mine rocks shows that
major rocks in Chador Malu mine area are
Metasomatite, Albitite, Diorite, Magnetite and
Hematite. The iron ore concentrate contains
about 68% iron and 0.045% phosphorus.
 Chador Malu drilling fleet
Production & Buffer Hole Drilling: DMH, DML and DM45(Rotary system)
presplit Hole Drilling: Titon 600 (DTH system)

Main drill patterns:

Hard Rock: Burden = 6 m & Spacing = 7 m
Fractured Rock : Burden = 7m & Spacing = 8 m
* ANFO explosive with Dynamite primers are used for blasting.
 Chador Malu iron ore mine
Drilling pattern for production holes at Chador Malu iron ore mine
Hole Sub Charge
Burden Spacing Stemming Explosive Bottom Hole Bench Hole Angle
Diameter drilling Density
(m) (m) (m) Charge Depth Height (degree)
(mm) (m) (gr/m3)
(m) (m) (m)

251 2.25 6 7 1.0 7.25 ANFO 1 17.25 15 90

Drilling pattern for buffer holes at Chador Malu iron ore mine
Hole Hole
Decoupling Buffer Buffer Charge Stemming Hole
Diameter Explosive depth
ratio Burden(m) Spacing(m) Density(gr/m3) (m) Angle(degree)
(mm) (m)

165 0 3 4 1.0 2 ANFO 6 90

Drilling pattern for presplit holes at Chador Malu iron ore mine
Stemming
Hole Cartridge Presplit Charge Time Hole
Charge Burden & Explosive Hole Angle
Diameter Diameter Spacing Density Delay Depth
decoupling ratio (m) Subdrilling (degree)
(mm) (mm) (m) (gr/m3) (ms) (m)
(m)

Azar
114 0.35 40 1.45 1.03 6 200 0 Powder 15.5 75
Presplit Drilling Operation

presplit Holes

Production Holes
Buffer Holes
A schematic illustration showing drilling and blasting design in Chador Malu mine
A schematic illustration showing of drilling profile in Chador Malu mine
presplit Drill Rigs
Drilling angles

30° 30°

-Sideways: 30°/ 30

Drilling rig position for presplit drilling at
Chador Malu mine
 Visual presplit evaluation
 examine the presplit face and adjust spacing or charging

with regard to:

- smoothness of presplit surface

- percent of half-casts visible

- occurrence of crest failures

- occurrence of plane and wedge failures in final wall

The sources of drilling deviations
 Drilling deviations in difficult condition

Designed hole
direction
A schematic illustration showing sources of hole drilling
deviations on mine bench
misalignment Collaring Collaring offset

Planed hole

In-hole deviation

Incorrect depth
Deviation due to
collar error
 Conventional Drilling Methods in
Surface Mines
1.Top Hammer
2.Down the Hole
3.COPROD
4.Rotary

1 2 3 4
Drilling deviations depend on drilling rigs
 Double Benches Drilling

Using double benches presplit blasting to reduce wall failure and

achieve less total drilled meters per tone
Successful Presplit Blasting in an
Open Pit Mine
 Aitik Copper Mine
The Aitik copper mine is situated in Sweden. It is one of Europe's largest open pit copper mines.
Associated with the copper, large quantities of gold, silver and since 2008 molybdenum have
been mined at Aitik.
Aitik Copper Mine in Sweden
Mine Specification
Production Started with 2 Mt/y in 1968 and now 36 Mt/y
Proven Reserves : 520 Mt
Grade: 0.31 % Copper ,0.2 gr/t Gold & 2.0 gr/t Silver
Mine Life: 2025
Final pit depth: 400 m
Production Holes: 311 mm
W/O: 1:1
Pit Slope Design: 46 degree
Bench height: 15 m
 Presplit drilling pattern

Buffer Holes 6 1/2 in

Pre-split Holes 5 1/2 in

Production Holes 12 ¼ in

15m
15m

16m
 Typical presplit Drilling Design , Aitik Copper Mine in Sweden

5 ½” Pre-split holes
15 m depth 22 degree
incline 4.5
m
4.5
m 5.0
6 ½” Buffer holes
m
15 m depth
6.0
m
10.5
12 ¼” Production holes
m
16 m depth

8.0
m
12 ¼” Production holes
17 m depth
 Presplit blasting evaluation
Type of Damage Origin Correction
Back break around the presplit Shortage of burden or spacing in Modifying burden, spacing and
holes caused no half-casts visible presplit line or excessive charging hole charge density
in fracture line in buffer or presplit holes
Detonation pressure in presplit
Modifying hole charge density
Back break visible just around holes was more than rock
and charging method
the presplit hole area compression strength

Increasing the spacing in buffer

Back break visible just between Shortage of buffer row spacing row and decreasing charging
the presplit hole area density in buffer holes

Roughness and the irregularity of Excessive spacing or shortage of Decreasing spacing and
final wall behind the presplit burden in presplit row hole charge density in presplit
surface row

Shortage of rock breaking in final Excessive burden between presplit Decreasing burden between
wall and buffer rows presplit and buffer rows

Using guide holes between

Excessive joints and cracks at High weathering and poor presplit holes or drilling
final wall crest condition of final wall rock presplit holes with retract bit
for fracture control
Half-casts visible remained after blasting of presplit holes
Wall damages due to inappropriate spacing in presplit row
Key Notes
 Several techniques are used for improvement wall stability in open
pit mines which among them, presplit blasting is the most pragmatic
and effective approach for tackling this issue in metal open pit
mines
 The influence of geology can never be completely eliminated but
certain measures can be taken to ensure acceptable blasting results
such as selecting appropriate drill rig to control minimum drilling
deviation on presplit row
 DTH and COPROD drilling systems give less deviation than the other
drilling methods thus they could be right choices for presplit drilling
 Orientation of geological structures has the great influence on the
presplit fracture, thus, survey on structural mapping and joint sets is
very important to obtain the good final wall in open pit mines
 Visual evaluation of presplit blasting results and modifying
parameters according to mentioned table is crucial to achieve
successful results.
Thanks for your kind
attention