Formulation of production blasting criteria for the construction of a lime plant at a major crushed stone operation

Abstract

Abstract A blast-monitoring program conducted at Chemical Lime Company's new lime calcining facility near St Genevieve, Missouri, USA is discussed. The purpose was to develop blasting criteria for the construction and operation of the lime plant within the quarry operated by Tower Rock Stone. Further, it was imperative to accommodate production requirements into the blasting criteria. The major concern was the effect of blasting on the curing of green concrete during the construction of the storage silos and kiln stacks. In addition to discussing the susceptibility of curing concrete to blast vibrations, the paper also details how this varies with time. The following are addressed in detail: (1) the effect of presplitting on ground vibrations; (2) the formulation of scale distance models for blast vibrations in each bench; and (3) the formulation of the effect of blasts at the kiln site when blasting out of the monitoring horizon. A discussion of the instrumentation employed and the strategy used to deter...