Raise Design and Operations Blasting

Background - Raise Blasting Definition

A raise is a vertical or inclined opening developed upward from one level to connect with a level or
levels above. Raises are used in underground mines for access, ventilation, ore or waste passes, or to
provide an initial free face for production blasting.

Avoid Heavily Burdened Charges in Raises - They Won't Break Out

The video shows the results of a huge burden that was in front of this charge. There is no place for the
muck to go and thus there is no blast motion. This is a common occurrence when raises are planned
too long - in this case 30 m. The drilling has to be spot on and redrilling was done using a diamond drill
after the hole was completely washed out.

Results of a heavily burdened charge. The two laser dots are for measuring
scale.

Void Space Calculation

To develop a slot, there must be void space within the pattern design itself. Slots can be taken in a
series of blasts, but the preference is to develop a slot in one blast because of the continuing safety
issues around working in previously blasted zones of rock or ore. Traditionally raises have been
developed using Alimak methods in which a platform is used as a work area for miners who drill and
blast a slot from a bottomsill to a topsill. This is considered to be hazardous work since the miners are
continuously exposed to pre-blasted material.

Void Spaces Obtained Using Large Diameter Empty Holes

The above drawing shows the development of void space using large diameter empty holes. Here
crater blasting technology is used for drop - raising in which lifts are blasted according to crater
theory. Multiple blasts are required with this method. It is safer than the Alimak type of raising and
cheaper and faster than raise-boring. The most serious problem with this type of blasting is borehole
accuracy. Key holes are usually diamond drilled or drilled with a Boart drill. If the boreholes are
inaccurate, freezing of the muck can occur with re-drilling by remote as the only remedy for re-
blasting. The calculation of void space can be expressed by the following equation;

Not that the depth of holes will be the same for both empty holes and blast holes and this parameter
cancels out. In most cases, void space should be in excess of 20% with 27% to 33% void space not an
uncommon target to reach.
Single pass blasting in which the complete loaded design is detonated in a single event has been
developed providing holes are accurately drilled. Some raises 20 m long have been blasted and it is
obvious that drilling accuracy in these instances is paramount.

Shaft Sinking
Shaft sinking requires the use of a beginning sinking cut in order to start the shafting process. In the
past, this was continued until non-weathered competent ground in reached. With the use of bulk
emulsions contained in a carrier similar to a large ANFO pot, packaged products have been mostly
superceded. The drilling and blasting process is similar to drifting but the orientation changes
vertically. Holes are drilled in a V cut with additional holes drilled obliquely toward the shaft
perimeter. Perimeter holes 'look out' to make room for the drill.

Starting the process of building a shaft.

Video of Initial Shaft Blast Using Pyrotechnic Delays - Way Too Much Damage
on This One
This video shows the initial sinking cut for a large concrete lined shaft to 600 m. This blast was way
overloaded and there was no attempt to provide perimeter control. You will also see that the camera
was too close to it. Electronic delays are now effective in creating good perimeter conditions.

Initial shaft sinking blast that was loaded too heavily.

Types of Raises
• Conventional (Alimak)
• Raise boring
• VCR Blasting (Drop Raising)
• Longhole Raising (Rapid Raising)
• Uphole Raising (Inverse or Blind Raise)

Conventional (Alimak) Raising

• Drilling - all drilling is done from the platform of the Raise Climber.
• Loading - all loading is also done from the platform.
• Blasting - blasting is done away from the platform and from a well-protected location at the
bottom station.
• Ventilation - gases and dust created by the blast are cleared by spraying a mixture of water
and air through pipes in the guide rail.
• Scaling- when the air has been cleared the crew can ascend in the Raise Climber to the face,
scale and install a new guide rail section, all under protection of the safety roof.
• Used in narrow vein precious metal mining.
 Diagram on the left shows the type of equipment used for Alimak mining and the figure on the right
shows the typical Alimak mining cycle. Alimak Mining Vikay

Typical Raise Bore Blast

• Typical lift heights of 10 m.
• Can actually take as much as 21 m or more in a single blast.
• Most blasting of this type uses MS detonators.
• Raise boring creates void space for blast patterns to break into.
 In the left hand drawing, raise boring can be done in
a topsill or bottomsill - whichever case the mining plan permits. On the right is a representation of a
typical blasting pattern with timing. Hole accuracy is critical. Raise Boring Cameco

VRM Drop Raising

• Holes drilled with a long hole ITH drill. Accuracy is very important. Vertical Retreat Mining
(VRM) is the mining method; please refer to this section
• Crater charge is used to create void
• Holes are then blasted into this with least burdened holes firing first
• Typically use high density, high energy explosives
• Initiated using millisecond (MS) timing
• Standard hole diameter is 165 mm

Vertical Retreat Mining methodology is used to create void space with adjacent holes being slashed into void
space made but initial blasthole. The sketch on the right shows have VRM charges are plugged and initiated in
an ITH hole.
Longhole Raising

• Designed to be blasted using Burn Cut principles

• Void holes can be the same diameter or larger than charged holes
• Uses a regular production drill
• Mechanical excavation
• Use blasting to increase size/larger void space
• Starting void ratio is critical- broken ore swells anywhere from 25% to 40%
• Set up errors can cause biggest problem
• Drill Deviation
• Parallel holes are the key to start
• Only one void hole is necessary but additional void holes may make up for drilling inaccuracy
and reduce risk of freezing a round
• Void ratio - see drawing and table

Burden
Shot Reamer Reamer VOID
to
Diameter Diameter Spacing Single
Reamer
(mm) (mm) (m) (m)

89 102 0.57 0.4 46.4%

89 115 0.64 0.45 44.2%
89 152 0.78 0.55 45.0%
89 200 0.99 0.7 45.7%

Inverse Raising
From a report completed by Helig of Blastronics, there is much variability in the design of inverse
raises and rates of advance that can be obtained. Additional points have been summarized below
(also from Helig);
• drilling accuracy is considered to be perhaps the most critical feature of raise design and that
there is difficulty in establishing incentives based on accuracy rather than footage
• blastholes less than 114 mm produce excessive deviation in raises beyond 20 m in length
• in bad ground, the number of uncharged relief holes and timing between blastholes should be
increased
• powder factor reduction should be considered from the standpoint that adjacent detonating
boreholes may affect one another
• explosives with lower detonation velocities seemed to produce better results in softer ground
conditions, probably due to the fact that brisance isn’t required for soft rock
• the delay interval between adjacent detonating blastholes in the cut region should be
increased to more than a value of 1 second
• the longest possible delays between blastholes in the cut region should be used - the mixing
of short and long delay period detonators should not be considered
• void spacing should be increased to over 30 %
• inverse raises less than 15 m in length can obtain full advance using multiple small diameter
empty holes - longer raises require a large uncharged hole to achieve the same levels of advance on a
routine basis
• studies at INCO indicate that a 200 MS delay per m of raise are required between the
detonation of the first and second blasthole with a raise (a 15 m raise requires around a 3000 MS
delay between the first and second detonating blastholes)
• using multiple decks of explosive columns should not be used - sympathetic propagation deck
to deck has been shown to occur in many instances

Borehole Deviation
Borehole deviation can be attributed to collaring, set - up and bending errors. If collaring error can be
eliminated then deviation can be represented by the following equation;

where:
length of the blasthole calculated in terms of blasthole
D =
diameters

The trajectory of a blasthole drilled in hard rock is represented by the figure shown here;
An extreme case of borehole deviation due to high pull down pressure mixed with bad geology and structure.

Calculation of Relief Hole Diameter

For raises up to 15 m in length, the effective relief hole diameter can be calculated from the following
equation;

where:
L = length of raise in meters

Relief hole diameter is controlled by the length of advance rather than the cross-sectional area of the
raise. Longer raises require a greater void area and typically larger blasthole diameters to maintain
drilling accuracy.

Calculation of the Distance to the First Firing Blasthole

Holmberg of Nitro Nobel drawing on the work of Langefors and Kihlstrom proposed the following
equation;

where:
 linear charge concentration per meter of blasthole
Q =
(kg/m)
distance between the empty relief hole and the
V =
blasthole in meters
Ø = diameter of the uncharged relief hole in meters

The above equation holds according to Helig for borehole diameters up to 32 mm.