Use of Gas Emulsion in Blasting Project for Clearing in a Copper Mine in Southern Peru

Abstract

The gasifiable emulsion is a technological and productive response to the need to reduce operating costs in the mining project, among the improvements with respect to ANFO are a higher detonation velocity (VOD), better fragmentation and reduction of nitrous fumes. In the test mining operation, a commercial explosive mixture called "Q "73 (70% emulsion and 30% ANFO) is used, where the ANFO is composed of 97% ammonium nitrate and 3% diesel, and the explosive mixture "Q "82 (80% emulsion and 20% ANFO) is also used, 7 blasting processes were carried out with a diameter of 12.25 in. in a waste area, the most characteristic rocks found in the blasting project in the copper mine in southern Peru are Toba Cristal (TC), Andesite Basaltic Propylitic (BA-PRO), Andesite Basaltic Argillic (BA-ARG). The results obtained show a reduction of the Power Factor by 1.32%, with respect to the commercial mixtures "Q "73 and "Q "82 an optimum increase in the detonation velocity of 9.92% and 0.59% was obtained, also the high-resolution images of the fumes after blasting indicate a low presence of orange fumes taking a great relevance in the mining sector on a large scale, achieving better results in the blasting phase.