Modern quarrying operations focus attention on blasting operations as a
critical component in the overall cost-effectiveness of quarrying.
Generally, optimisation of blasting has been linked to the processes of
drilling, explosive consumption, secondary breakage, and product haulage
to the primary crusher. This approach gives no consideration to the impact
of primary crusher feed size distribution on downstream processes, or on
the quality (ie shape and strength) of the final product. Blasting operations can be manipulated to produce a wide range of
muckpile size distribution. This paper presents the results of studies into
the impact of muckpile fragmentation on downstream crushing and
screening operations, and includes measurements of primary blast
oversize and muckpile fragmentation, together with measurements of size
distribution, circulating loads and flakiness for various process streams
throughout a quarry processing plant. This paper is an extension of other studies investigating the prediction
and control of fragmentation from blasting, and the role of explosive
performance in controlling muckpile fragmentation.