Using electronic detonators to improve all-round blasting performances

Over the past 18 months the De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd operations have made a concerted effort to move away from using the traditional shock tube initiating systems. These systems are being systematically replaced by the use of electronic delay detonators (EDD). Various trials were conducted in both host rock and kimberlite rock masses to improve tunnel advance as well as to optimise delay timing during trough openings [1-3]. The high cost of EDD’s, when compared with traditional initiation systems, led to a number of detailed studies being conducted on the mines where EDD’s were being used. These studies aimed to quantify the additional benefits when blasting with electronic detonators. The studies showed that the change was justified on the basis of increased quality control and reliability gained through the use of EDD’s. However, these benefits attract other related benefits, like fragmentation control, and backbreak reductions. When compared to the shock tube initiating systems the increased dev...