Environmental Constraints in Blasting - Online short course

Background

BACKGROUND

Blasting is necessary for the recovery of ore, minerals or stone in our underground and surface mines and also in the development of key infrastructure in civil blasting. However, blasting can cause noise and vibration, which can have an impact upon neighbouring premises. Proper control of blasting practices is therefore necessary to ensure both the safety of employees and the protection of the community from adverse effects. Ground vibration, noise, airblast and flyrock, usually results in complaints from the public following blasting operations. More often than not, excess noise and airblast are the cause of the complaint even though the complainant may have in fact claimed that ground vibrations are the problem. A considerable amount of research into blasting vibrations and consequential damage has been done. In most cases, a competent operator can reasonably predict the level of airblast and ground vibration. However the generation and transmission of airblast and ground vibration is affected by many factors. The challenge forward is not to just apply a limit rather to promote a better understanding of the key leverage points to better manage the impact of blasting and the unique local constraints impacting on the mine operation. We will use a real life example to understand these constraints, how to manage them and the impact on the way we do blast design in our short course.

SAIMM have responded to our member feedback and are excited to be offering short-courses to develop critical technical skills across the complete mining value chain. We are excited to offer our second course in this series focused on Environmental Constraints in Blasting.

This short-course is being offered from 17h00 until 19h30 so that you can take advantage of your time in lockdown and do some learning.