Difficult sinking cut in severe winter conditions improves productivity at Lac des Iles Mines
The Lac des Iles Mine, in an isolated area of Northwestern Ontario is a relatively new open pit mine. They encountered problems with the equipment and production scheduling when ramping down to begin production on the subsequent benches. A co-operative effort between Lac des Iles Mine operations, ICI Explosives, and the mines drilling and blasting contractor, Consbec Inc., resulted in a decision being made to use full depth sinking cuts to provide access to the next bench. The sinking cut was carried out under a combination of extremely difficult conditions--shattered rock, collapsing holes, flowing water and frozen explosives{hor_ellipsis}--in severe Canadian winter and under a tight schedule. This paper will outline the problems associated with the changes in the blast design, drilling, loading and blasting of the sinking cut. Details will be provided that outline the procedures that were developed, and the types of explosives that were used in order to overcome the problems and achieve significant operational cost savings in the process.
- OSTI ID:
- 398390
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-960262-; TRN: IM9649%%598
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 22. annual conference on explosives and blasting technique, Orlando, FL (United States), 4-8 Feb 1996; Other Information: PBD: 1996; Related Information: Is Part Of Proceedings of the twenty-second annual conference on explosives and blasting technique. Volume 1; PB: 319 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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