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2015 - Blast Fragmentation Modelling For The Open Pit - F. Mardones, C. Scherpenisse, I. Onederra - 2015
2015 - Blast Fragmentation Modelling For The Open Pit - F. Mardones, C. Scherpenisse, I. Onederra - 2015
2015 - Blast Fragmentation Modelling For The Open Pit - F. Mardones, C. Scherpenisse, I. Onederra - 2015
F. Mardones
GeoBlast S. A., Chile
C. Scherpenisse
GeoBlast S. A., Chile
I. Onederra
The University of Queensland, Sustainable Minerals Institute, W H Bryan Mining and Geology Research
Centre, Qld 4072 Australia
ABSTRACT: In large scale metalliferous mining, there is significant evidence to suggest that by providing an
appropriate size distribution to crushing and grinding circuits, a measurable increased throughput and/or re-
duced power draw can be obtained. Tailoring blast designs to suit specific fragmentation requirements is now
common place at both the pre-feasibility and feasibility study stages. This is particularly the case when sig-
nificant increases in ore production rates are being considered. As part of the feasibility study of the open pit
expansion project of Codelco’s Andina operation, a comprehensive blast monitoring program was conducted
in the currently mined secondary ore domains of the “Don Luis” pit. The objective of this program was to
calibrate and implement a site specific blasting model to enable the prediction of fragmentation trends in the
deeper, more competent ore zones, also referred to as primary rock domains. This paper gives a brief descrip-
tion of the blast fragmentation monitoring program conducted and discusses the calibration and application of
a stochastic blast fragmentation modelling framework. Results from several simulations have highlighted the
key differences in fragmentation if current blast designs are applied in the more competent primary rock do-
mains. A number of blast design options have been evaluated and recommendations made in order to achieve
specific ore handling and processing targets.
Blasting activities in major mining operations The main geotechnical units forming the core of
have been placing significant emphasis on the ability the mining environment of current and future opera-
to tailor fragmentation to improve downstream proc- tions at Andina have been grouped into Primary
esses. In many of these operations, the impact of Rock, Secondary Rock and Riolite and Dacite chim-
fines has been clearly identified. neys. This study is mainly concerned with the cali-
At the conceptual and feasibility stages, fragmen- bration of an empirical fragmentation model in sec-
tation modelling studies which support future Mine ondary rock and simulations in primary rock.
to Mill strategies can be conducted through the cali- Primary rock masses have been described as
bration of empirical models using existing data; and “hard” and competent with well healed gypsum or
if need be, through the implementation of specific Anhidrite filled fractures, typical RMR values are in
trials. An important pre-requisite is the adequate the range of 60 to 80. Secondary rock masses can
classification and characterisation of the blasting also be described as “hard”, however fractures are
domains of interest. As part of the feasibility study generally open and hence reduce the competency of
of the open pit expansion project of Codelco’s the rock mass with characteristic RMR values in the
Andina operation, a comprehensive blast monitoring range of 42 to 50.
program was conducted in the currently mined sec- Relevant to blast fragmentation modelling is the
ondary ore domains of the “Don Luis” pit. The ob- degree of in situ fracturing. As shown in Figure 1,
jective of this program was to calibrate and imple- total spacing statistics derived from fracture fre-
ment a site specific blasting model to enable the quency data show that the degree of fracturing is
prediction of fragmentation trends in the deeper, clearly more intense in the secondary rock mass do-
more competent ore zones mains. Results from the available core logging data
indicated that total fracture spacing may be as wide
as 0.4 m in the secondary domain and 0.91 m in the
primary rock domain. The analysis shows that the
variability in fracture intensity appears to be greater
in the primary rock domain.
From a drilling and blasting perspective the sec- material data collected by the geology and geotech-
ondary and primary domains can be classified as nical department of Andina provided the necessary
fractured and blocky rock masses respectively. Frac- input to reliably implement a stochastic modelling
ture spacing statistics were used to provide first pass approach.
estimates of the potential range of the mean size of
in situ blocks. This is a required input parameter that
is further defined through back-analysis or the model
calibration process.
The rock types or lithological units of concern to The detailed monitoring of production blasts in
this study include Granodiorita Cascada (GDCC) secondary rock masses has been an important and
and Brecha de Turmalina (BXT). Both rock types are necessary component of the model calibration and
found in the secondary and primary rock domains. In verification process. As summarised in Table 2, a to-
both cases, the degree of alteration appears to be the tal of four production blasts were monitored in the
main factor that affects strength and stiffness. Analy- “Don Luis” pit of the Andina operation, three were
sis of the geotechnical information provided by located in the GDCC domain and one in the BXT
Andina allowed the definition of the average intact domain.
rock material and rock mass parameters used in the
calibration and modelling of different blasting sce-
narios. Table 1 gives a summary of the domain and
properties of the GDCC and BXT rock types.
Table 1 shows that the intact rock material in the
primary domain is slightly stiffer than in the secon-
dary domains. In terms of compressive strength,
there are no significant differences between the
GDCC rock in the secondary and primary domains
with mean values of 161 and 156 MPa respectively.
A more pronounced difference is observed in the
BXT rock with mean values of 135 and 158 MPa re- Table 2. Design parameters of monitored production blasts.
spectively. From a drilling and blasting perspective, * The explosive Apex 150 is a Heavy ANFO (50% Emulsion)
all rock material can be classified as hard and com- product supplied by Orica Chile.
petent. In these hard competent conditions incipient
damage defined by peak particle velocity is esti-
mated to be in the range of 900 to 1100 mm/s; and 4 FRAGMENTATION ASSESSMENT
breakage is expected to be in the range of 3600 to
4400 mm/s. The overall breakage and fragmentation A detailed fragmentation assessment program was
potential is expected to be driven by the degree and conducted during this study. The detailed program
condition of fracturing; and therefore differences in included the acquisition of images during the exca-
the intermediate and coarse end of the fragmentation vation of muckpiles as well as the sieving of a lim-
distribution are expected between secondary and ited number of samples taken from selected regions.
primary rock masses. It should be noted that the rock As illustrated in Figure 2, the assessment procedure
consisted of sampling lines and profiles taken at dif-
ferent stages of extraction. This procedure is consis-
tent with best practices in fragmentation assessment
using image analysis methods.
Table 3. Summary of fragmentation images samples taken dur-
ing the monitoring of blasts in the GDCC and BXT domains.