31 AUGUST 2026 WorldWide Drilling Resource® Explosive Aspects Adapted from Information by the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement Explosives, explosions, and detonations are staples in the mining industry. Different types of blasting material have different characteristics, including water resistance, fume class, flammability, shelf life, sensitivity, and strength. Each characteristic is measured or determined in its own way. Water resistance is the product’s ability to withstand exposure to water without losing power or becoming desensitized. The flip side is blasting agents made with water as part of their ingredients may have excellent water resistance. Energy of some mixtures that have been exposed to water inside of blastholes is less than that of the same mixture placed in dry holes. Fume class is another aspect that measures the amount of toxic gasses produced during an explosion. Commercial blasting uses products that are oxygen-balanced to minimize the fumes and optimize energy release. Organizations have developed tests to rate the fumes emitted by explosions, which includes underground mines and surface mines. Flammability is the ease which an explosive can be ignited and/or detonated when exposed to heat. Still today, detonating cords are used in surface coal mines along with other devices that carry open flame to fragment thick coal. This sometimes leads to localized combustion within the detonated coal seams. On the opposite spectrum, extremely low temperatures can affect water-based explosives causing the ingredients to solidify and aggregate, reducing the surface area available for reaction. This lowers performance results. Chemical stability and performance change with age giving the explosives a shelf life. Storage conditions and formulation can directly affect the length of a product’s stability. Most modern explosives contain inhibitors and/or stabilizers that can lengthen this time limit. Part of the sensitivity of an explosive is the various safety aspects which determines the ease at which the explosive can be detonated or accidentally detonated from shock, impact, friction, electrostatic discharge, and heat. The second part of sensitivity is the explosive’s ability to propagate, meaning to reliably produce a detonation. Strength is the measure of the explosive’s energy based on both weight and volume and is directly related to density and detonating velocity along with heat and gas volume upon detonation. The energy released upon explosion includes useful energy and wasted energy. Useful energy is what actually fragments the rock, while wasted energy generates light, heat, ground vibrations, and air blast. ANFO mixtures EXB
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