The evolution of mining and explosives in the Powder River Basin
Coal mining in the Powder River Basin has changed in recent years to accommodate the large quantity of coal produced. With strip ratios of one to one and up to three to one, extensive amounts of overburden have to be removed to get to the large thick seams of coal. Larger shovels and trucks have been implemented in the removal of this overburden. The addition of draglines and continuous miners have been added to increase the production of coal. Drills used today are capable of drilling up to 13.5 inch blast holes. Blasting techniques have changed to accommodate the use of larger equipment. With the use of draglines, cast blasting has become very high tech. Large quantities of bulk loaded powder is used daily. An overburden blast hole 12 1/4 inch in diameter and 200 feet deep, can have as much as 10,000 pounds of high density powder when loaded.
- OSTI ID:
- 433698
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-940144-; TRN: IM9709%%131
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 20. annual Society of Explosives Engineers meeting on explosives and blasting techniques, Austin, TX (United States), 30 Jan - 4 Feb 1994; Other Information: PBD: 1994; Related Information: Is Part Of Proceedings of the twentieth annual conference on explosives and blasting technique; PB: 593 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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