Scholarly record
EFFICIENCY OF BLASTING IN REDUCING THE SEISMIC HAZARD -CASE STUDY FROM A POLISH COPPER ORE MINE
Abstract
The Rudna Mining Plant is one of the largest underground copper ore mines in the world. It is the deepest of three mines owned by KGHM Polish Copper JSC in the Legnica-G?og?w Copper District. Copper ores are mined below the depth of 1000 meters. The mine has 1250-meter deep shafts. Rock bursts (the first appeared in 1980) are the greatest threats in the Rudna mine. They are defined as a sudden release of energy which destroys or seriously damages mine workings. The rock-burst hazard have to be combated, mitigated or limited by various activities. The prevention aims at assessing the hazard and fighting it by means of active, technological and organizational methods. Moreover, the efficiency of the prevention has to be evaluated. The analysis and assessment of the threat is based primarily on mining seismology, which allows one to record seismic events 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Group blasting of faces is the prime active method of combating rock bursts. The goal of such shooting is to relax the rock mass by provoking the emission of cumulated energy in as many faces as possible. The group blasting proved to be the efficient method limiting the threat of rock bursts in KGHM?s copper ore mines. The main purpose of the study was to determine the impact of group blasting works (their parameters such as: frequency, the number of faces shot in one blasting work) on their efficiency in reducing seismic and rock-burst hazard in the Rudna mine. The seismic activity of the rock mass was analyzed and the seismic hazard was assessed. Furthermore, the geological settings and mining conditions were depicted in detail. Group blasting works were characterized, including the number of faces firing in each shooting and the time interval between subsequent shootings. The number and frequency of group works were calculated and analyzed. The group blasting efficiency in provoking shocks with reference to the number and energy of shocks was calculated. The relationship between the efficiency of shock provocation and group blasting frequency was established. Moreover, the influence of the number of faces fired in one shooting on shock provocation was determined. The connection of group blasting frequency with the shooting efficiency was analyzed.
Publication Impact Profile
Publication details
References5
Bartlett S., Burgess H., Damjanović B., Gowans R., Lattanzi C., Technical report on the copper-silver production operations of KGHM Polish Copper JSC in the Legnica-Głogów Copper Belt area of southwestern Poland, Great Britain, Canada, pp 13-35, 2013 [in Polish].
Butra J., Exploitation of copper ore deposit in rock-burst and caving hazards, Poland, pp 154-278, 2010 [in Polish].
Gogolewska A., Dąbrowska G., Active rock-burst prevention effectiveness in selected mining panels in Lubin copper ore mine, Scientific Works of Mining Engineering Institute of Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Mining and Geology XII, Poland, vol. 128/36, pp 43-69, 2009 [in Polish].
Kłeczek Z., Face group blasting as an element of bump prevention in copper ore mines LGOM, Mining and Geoengineering, Poland, vol. R 28/issue 3/1, pp 153-159, 2004 [in Polish].
Babicz J., Influence of frequency of group blasting on seismic hazard in selected mining fields in KGHM Polish Copper JSC Rudna copper ore mine, Eng. Diploma Thesis under the supervision of Anna Gogolewska, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology Poland, 2016 [in Polish] (not published).
View or Download full articleAccess options
SWS access login
Login as SWS Scientific CommitteeLogin as SWS Scientific PartnerLogin as SWS AuthorAuthors and approved SWS contributors will read and export their own linked papers after identity matching by SWS profile, email and SGEM GlobalID.
For librarian assistance: [email protected]
Purchase Instant Access
- Article can be downloaded after successful payment.
- Article may be used according to SWS library access terms.
- Article cannot be redistributed.


