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Abstract
Peru does not produce ammonium nitrate; nevertheless it is a large consumer of both, porous prill (PP)
and high-density (HD) varieties. Explosives cost is an important preoccupation in Peru, due to
fluctuations of the imported ANFO grade Ammonium Nitrate (AN). The use of Gasified Emulsion (GE)
-manufactured with much cheaper HDAN- has become an alternative to reduce such costs. However,
some problems were reported in the application of pure GE, including explosive percolation in highly
fractured rock and lack of sensitivity by the effect of hydrostatic pressure in very deep holes. It was,
hence, proposed to have an explosive based on GE too, but more robust and capable to keep the shape of
the explosive column into the blast hole, by minimizing the leakage into the cracks. This could be
achieved by adding limited amounts of lower priced HDAN, at the same time of providing gas pressure
benefits. Other alternative is to add a low-density material, such as polystyrene prills, into the GE,
although it reduces the explosive energy. The chemical gassing controls the density of GE, thus it can be
obtained a wide range of densities.
To improve the rigidity without affecting sensitivity, a blend of 25% HDAN and 75% GE was prepared.
This balance increases the effective energy per unit of mass contained in the blast hole, keeping, at the
same time, good sensitivity thanks to the bubbles (hot points) which formation depends on the dosage of
sodium nitrite, reacting with the emulsion. The HDAN prill is nonporous, therefore it plays no role in
the sensitivity, but contributes to the mix with two important things: higher physical rigidity and higher
nitrogen content to increase the volume of the gases. This blasting agent blend was named GE-HDAN. It
has been tested at the largest Peruvian mines, in blast holes ranging from 6 m (19.7 ft) in depth and 0.13
m (5 in) in diameter to 17 m (55.8 ft) in depth and 0.31 m (12.25 in) in diameter. Range of density used
was 0.9 to 1.17 g/cm3 (56.2 to 73.0 lb/ft3). Numerous VOD (Velocity of Detonation) tests, fragmentation
analysis and non-fumes blasts have demonstrated an excellent detonation performance and VOD in the
order of 5700 m/s (18700 ft/s), always greater than Heavy ANFOs. GE-HDAN energy delivery,
sensitivity and water resistance encourage to its massive use, in addition to application of low cost
HDAN. In consequence, an economic benefit is also reported with savings for the users.
The Gasified Explosive Emulsion (GE), hence, appeared as a simple solution for this task, due to its no
necessity of PPAN on its composition, in addition to its width range of densities that can be obtained in
the field and its high detonation performance thanks to its homogeneity.
Nevertheless, when the explosive column is compressed by the stemming load, a contamination zone is
created at the top of the column and, also, when the rock is highly fractured, it results in a losing of
explosive though the fractures and, therefore, a reduction of the column height and the effective powder
factor (Villanueva, 2015).
To prevent those inconveniences, trials were made by adding expanded polystyrene pearls to the GE,
intended to provide it with higher viscosity and better superficial tension to reduce the stemming
penetration. Figure 2-b shows the typical appearance of GE and polystyrene blend 60/40. Results in
both aspects were, in fact, acceptable however there was an important energy lost in the explosive
proportional to the pearls content- thus its application should be limited to soft rocks, where energy
demands were not too big.
First results were captured at Yanacocha gold mine, in holes of 0.27 m (10 5/8 in) in diameter and 11 m
(36.09 ft) in depth and almost immediately after, at Cuajone and Toquepala, giant Southern Peru Copper
mines, in holes of 0.31 m (12.25 in) in diameter and 16 m (52.49 ft) in depth. Each one of the three
operations represented a case study, because their own particularities; nevertheless, in all of them,
technical benefits and global cost savings were appreciated, as illustrated in this document.
Figure 1 shows the above-mentioned mines location. Yanacocha is located at the North of the country,
in the Department of Cajamarca, while Cuajone and Toquepala as the name of the owning Company
indicates- are located in the South, in the Departments of Moquegua and Tacna, respectively.
The GE-HDAN 75/25 blend is based on GE, as the primary ingredient. The chemical sensitization, by
gassing the blend, is responsible for the explosive adequate initiation and it finally contributes to the
fragmentation performance, at the time of giving to it the appropriate density and other detonation
features. The HDAN added to the GE accomplish with two important roles: Physically, it provides the
explosive column with grater stiffness within the blast hole, so it becomes more resistant to the
stemming compression and penetration. Secondly, the no-inert ammonium nitrate mass contributes with
additional chemical energy, which is finally released as an extra pressure detonation gas, contributing to
the separation of the rock fragments. That makes the detonation processes, definitely, more efficient.
Many Velocity of Detonation (VOD) measurements of the GE-HDAN blends were achieved in the field,
for different blast holes diameters and lengths, as well as various sampling cup densities. Following is a
graphic that shows a typical VOD, with a maximum VOD value of 5680 m/s (18635 ft/s) for an GE-
HDAN 75/25 with cup density of 1.10 g/cm3(68.7 lb/ft3), in a 0.31 m (12.25 in) diameter and 16 m (52.5
ft) depth blast hole, loaded with a 9 m (29.5 ft) confined charge height.
The conversion of an explosive chemical potential energy into useful energy or work, in unconfined or
lightly confined conditions, depends on the explosive type, the efficiency of the chemical reaction
between the oxidizers and fuel components and the oxygen balance. Ideal explosive formulations, such
as emulsions, typically convert higher percentage of chemical energy into high-pressure gases than a
lower performance explosive such as ANFO. This conversion efficiency is related to the amount of
useful work an explosive can perform during rock blasting (Fleetwood, Villaescusa, & Eloranta, 2012).
The following table shows a theoretical comparison (Esen, 2008) between the most used Heavy ANFO
HA 40/60 and the proposed GE-HDAN 75/25 blend. It can be seen that the Heavy ANFO Absolute
Weight Strength is much higher than GE-HDAN resulting one. However, other properties such as
Velocity of Detonation, Pressure of Detonation and Useful Energy are higher for the GE-HDAN.
In the case of the Southern Peru Copper mines (Cuajone and Toquepala), research was focused on the
technical-economical comparison of two explosives: the conventional GHA 70/30 and the new proposed
GE-HDAN 75/25. Figure 7 shows the explosive columns for both explosives.
In the case of Yanacocha the explosive column scheme is presented in the Figure 8. The standard
explosive was a Heavy ANFO (HA 40/60), with a density of 1.20 g/cm3 (74.9 lb/ft3). This was fully
replaced by the GE-HDAN 75/25, keeping the same explosive column height but reducing the cup
density to 1.10 g/cm3 (68.7 lb/ft3). Fragmentation results were measured to be the same but explosives
consumption dropped down.
In addition, the HDAN acquisition cost in Peru is less than the PPAN. Therefore, it is also valued by the
users the impact in the unitary cost of the explosive agent blend, since the GE-HDAN 75/25 is, in
average, 10% cheaper than the Heavy ANFO blends.
Parallel to this work we have been researching in how to improve the explosive emulsion formulation,
allowing using until 50% of HDAN without risk of fumes. At this manner, the explosive blend GE-
HDAN 50/50 will be more economical and technically suitable (Villanueva, 2015). In addition, it is
being carried out a compressibility study of the GE-HDAN (series of proportions) and its influence on
the VOD.
Acknowledgements
I wish to express my sincere thanks to the Blasting Engineers Jess Cruces and Ricardo Puerta, from
Cuajone Mine and Yorhinio Len, from Yanacocha Mine, for giving me the opportunity to see, monitor
and analyze the experimental blasts on their respective operations.
I remain in a great thankful debt with the Explosives Company EXSA who, among to be the first to
make trials and introduced the massive application of the HDAN at Peruvian mines, provided me with
the chance to use and test it in different mines within the Peruvian territory. I am very grateful to Ronald
Aazco.
Also, my thanks to the Mining Engineering Department of the National University of Trujillo. Finally, I
would like to thank Engineer Juan Carlos Vsquez for his global advisory on all our research.
References
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