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Blasting On Logging Roads (British Columbia, Canada)
Blasting On Logging Roads (British Columbia, Canada)
Blasting On Logging Roads (British Columbia, Canada)
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INTRODUCTION
British Columbia (BC) is Canadas most western province. The landscape in BC is amongst the most
beautiful and pristine in the world. Along with its beauty come vast mountain ranges, coastal rain
forests, swamplands, deep river valleys, and almost every type of landscape imaginable. These all have,
or at one time had, logging roads constructed. Some of these areas should never have had roads
constructed due to poor drainage and unstable slopes, but some of the roads could be considered
engineering masterpieces. To navigate a vehicle the size of an off-road logging truck down the side of a
mountain with an 80h side slope or greater can be a hair-raising experience. Not to mention coastal
rains and/or high elevation blizzards. These factors collectively make logging BCs most hazardous
occupation. People are seriously hurt, sometimes even killed everyday.
FOREST PRACTICES CODE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
In 1995 the Provincial Government implemented the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia. The
Provincial Government deems this as an important component of its overall integrated strategy for land
use planning and resource management in BC.
The Forest Practices Code makes BC logging guidelines the strictest in the world. This had been done
to help change BCs international reputation of poor logging practices. The Forest Practices Code could
essentially be compared to the Clean Water Act.
With the enormous size of BC, you can encounter different types of rock with ever-changing weather
and ground conditions. You hear stories of the good old days when you could load to the nines and
blow over every tree in sight. Under the Forest Practices Code you can be fined $5000 per tree under
section 67(2) (d), which states; harvesting or damaging trees that are required by the silviculture
prescription, logging plan, or special use permit to be left standing or undamaged. There are other fines
for severe damage such as in 45(1), where it states that carrying out a forest practice that results in
damage to the environment can result in a $50,000 fine!! These fines can be handed to the licensee, the
contractor, or the blaster himself. These can be administrative as well as quasi criminal, where a judge
can handout steeper fines or under extremely rare cases, jail time.
CONTROLLED BLASTING
Controlled blasting is the term used in the Forest Practices Code. Controlled blasting should reduce the
amount of fly-rock produced, maximize production of usable shot rock, reduce overall rock excavation
costs, and minimize the impact on the environment.
DRILLING AND BLASTING
Drilling and blasting are the two most important factors in achieving good results in road building, It is
important for the road builder and driller /blasters to have a good working relationship with a lot of clear
communication. This will always help in production, work quality and safety on the work site.
Before any drilling is done, a person has to consider many factors such as rock type, hardness, and
location of joints and slips, if visible. All these factors play a role in determining penetration rate, hole
diameter, hole length, hole spacing, use of down holes vs. lifters or slashing vs. side drilling. Also,
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consideration needs to be given to amount of burden, type of explosives, delays and firing sequence,
collar and stemming requirements as well as the use of wood spacers for column control. After these
factors are taken into consideration, the blaster should ask himself, does this blast need to produce
surfacing material for roads, or is it to be rip-rap and bank stabilization rock? Or, is the rock to be
wasted at a designated spoil site.7 Other variables should also be considered. For example, if you need
to supply surfacing material (lots of fines) for a road, and the site to be blasted is close to a fish
inhabited stream or for that matter any waterway, can you safely produce the shot rock without
jeopardizing the waterway.7 Some blasts may also need long collars to protect standing timber on steep
side hills. If the driller is not sure of the proper technique and considers the risk unacceptable, he should
notify his supervisor of his feelings. Options to consider are; could a professional blasting consultant or
engineer be brought in for assistance, or could an alternative method of rock excavation (rock hammer)
or could an alternative road location be investigated?
It is good practice to go over the area to be drilled with the road builder. This will help to ensure that
road width and ditch depth is accurate. Also, the driller should mark off the area to be drilled, especially
when quarrying. This reduces the chance of missing holes and also helps determine the burden on your
tirst row of holes. A blaster hates nothing more than to arrive at a blast site and try and figure out how
the driller intended to blast his pattern. If the driller is not doing the blasting, or finishes the drilling at a
shift change, he should discuss his ideas with the blaster in charge. Communication is of the utmost
importance.
BLAST TYPES
There are five basic different blast types on logging roads; Bench Cuts, Ditch-line
Flat-hole Quarries, Down-hole Quarries, and Sinking Cuts.
Bench Cuts
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Ditch-Line
Ditch line blasting is exactly as it suggests. This is nothing more than 1-2 rows alongside the roadway,
drilled anywhere from 4-12 feet deep. The biggest challenge with ditch-line blasting, especially in hard
rock, is sufficient collar breakage. Often the collar requires a wood spacer with a smaller diameter
cartridge of powder to break the collar rock so the road builder can handle it.
Down-Hole Quarries
When properly done, down-hole quarries will almost always produce the best fragmentation in a very
controlled manner. The driller has to adjust the depth of his holes according to the topography of the
land. These quarries are the preferred choice when it comes to producing road-surfacing rock,
especially when a large volume is needed. Drill holes for a standard down-hole quarry can range from
lo-50 feet deep, depending on surface area of rock available and how much road has to be surfaced.
Flat-Hole Quarries
When the terrain doesnt provide an adequate face for a down-hole or flat-hole quarry, the next choice is
a sinking-cut quarry. These quarries are on relatively flat ground. In a sinking-cut, the center of the
blast is fired first, providing relief for the sides and four corners to fire into the center. Fly-rock
generally shoots straight up and comes straight back down, minimizing any throw to the sides. Highdensity explosives should be used in the cut or center area of the blast. With no free face to break to,
these high-density explosives help in removing the cut area. The driller usually drills four or more holes
at the center of the blast, known as the cut, to be fired simultaneously. It is also common practice to
drill, but not load, some relief holes in the center of the cut. These provide void space to aid in flushing
and breakage, similar to underground tunneling. Burden and spacing in a sinking-cut should be about
80% of a regular quarry shot. Sometimes, the cut holes are drilled deeper than those in the rest of the
quarry. As mentioned, high-density explosives are recommended for the cut, as it may need as much as
60% higher powder factor than the rest of the blast. If the rock is extremely hard, the powder factor may
have to be twice as high. Even pneumatically loaded ANFO may not achieve the required density for a
successful sinking cut shot. Although these quarries have traditionally been tied-in with surface delays
and detonating cord, use of non-electric detonators has all but taken over.
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CONCLUSION
A typical logging road blast can range from one hole in a protruding rock in the ditch to hundreds of
holes. On any given day a blaster may blast once or as many as 10-20 times, depending on the terrain.
Drilling and blasting in the forest industry has proved to be invaluable in assisting road building.
Without it, there would be locations with valuable timber that would be inaccessible for the harvester. In
addition, access is essential for tree-planters who replace both cut and diseased trees. The relationship
between British Columbias forest industry, the road builder and the driller/blaster is truly unique. With
the forests being such a valued resource for todays generation and generations to come, it is important
that extreme care be taken not only in every blast, but also in any forest practice that takes place in our
great outdoors.
REFERENCES
Road
Construction,
Forest
Road
17Sep2000
Engineering
Guide
17sep2000
Book,
August
1995
http:lJwww.~ov.bc.ca/tasb/le~~e~s/fpc/fpc~uideJ~oadJ~e-toc.l~tm
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Figure 1
Cross section of a bench cut viewed tirn roadway-holes angled into the highwall to increase burden.
Downhill Side
Short holes on inside wall angled towards wall to sweep onto roadway.
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Figure 3
Increased burden on top row
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