Blasting in the mining industry can no longer be treated as an art and based on the individual experiences of mining engineers. The modern blasting engineer needs tools, such as empirical models, that allow them to have a quantitative approach to the way they design blasts. This poster presents a proposed empirical design tool for acceptable longhole winze (LHW) firing heights in terms of near-field intact rock damage, specifically to stope hanging walls. The level of near-field intact rock damage was estimated from the amplitude of vibrations created by the LHW blasts. The empirical design tool was developed utilising data collected from an open stoping mine site and through advanced numerical modelling with the Hybrid Stress Blasting Model (HSBM). The HSBM is a new state-of-the-art explosive rock interaction model developed over the last ten years, and can be described as a sophisticated blast modelling research tool. An example of how the empirical design tool may be implemented at an operating stoping mine is also provided in this poster.CITATION:Fullelove, I, 2016. Development of an empirical design tool to minimise hanging wall preconditioning from longhole winze blasting, in Proceedings Seventh International Conference and Exhibition on Mass Mining (MassMin 2016), p 888 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).