Blasting: Evolving from an art into a science new products improve safety and take the guesswork out of blast design

The development of new electronic products that allow to leverage blasting products and practice to achieve lower-cost production cycles and improved safety is discussed. New tools with better software packages are coming to the market that allow measurements of blasthole deviation and blast fragmentation. Dyno Nobel North America has been involved in developing site-sensitized emulsions, which are two-part products that do not become explosive until they are being pumped down the drill hole. Latest digital electronic detonators with high timing accuracy help achieving safety, cost savings and vibration benefits in the blasting operations. Some electronic systems offered by Orica and Advanced initiation systems (AIS) are also described.