Update on open-pit coal mine blasting

A number of problems exist in opencast blasting such as ground vibrations, flyrocks, back breaks, etc. Innovations in blast-initiation system coupled with sequential blasting machine, seismographs for monitoring of blast vibrations and controlled blasting techniques have helped blasters to fire large blasts with better fragmentation and reduced vibration effects. The paper describes briefly the current practices in open-pit mines. Some of the new concepts in fragmentation and ground vibration are also discussed.