Blasting questions?

[CGC Miner]

The Sierra Blaster works best on loose boulders that are not buried in dirt. I use it frequently to make 4-10foot boulders smaller so that I can move them with my equipment. Porous or highly fractured rock won't break. Buried rocks just crack..usually. Open air rocks is where this thing shines. You can see in the video that buried rocks stay buried and exposed ones with a little help can break up nicely, just not always. I do frequently wish I had more blasting POWER!

 

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[blackchipjim]

Hey CGC miner, have you ever used the blaster to blast faces of say a hanging wall? I know you said used it for exposed rocks but what about in walls?

 

[CGC Miner]

I've used it to successfully knock off ledges and hanging blocks in a mine. Will be doing some more testing soon in solid wall rock. I will let you know how it goes.

 

[blackchipjim]

Thanks good luck!

 

[blackchipjim]

Hello all, has anyone used the old farmers way of blasting stumps on rocks or other obstacles? I have never used the mixture nor anyone that has used it recently but was curious how the results were?

 

[JosephT]

Hello all, has anyone used the old farmers way of blasting stumps on rocks or other obstacles? I have never used the mixture nor anyone that has used it recently but was curious how the results were?

What way are you talking about? The farmers I know that use to blast stumps did it with Dynamite but that was when you cold buy it at the local hardware store.

 

[OreCart]

What way are you talking about? The farmers I know that use to blast stumps did it with Dynamite but that was when you cold buy it at the local hardware store.

Because of the crazies today, I am being careful of how I put this, but there was some simple elements that farmers always had around the farm that would make a pretty big boom when they were put together. Back in the day we were taught how to do this by the USDA to rid our farms of rocks and stumps. One such man, a former farmer, used this the wrong way to take out a building killing many children and adults. He was put to death for that action.

Since then, it is impossible for farmers to get these elements...at least, the main element.

While I realize there are many formulas online to tell someone how to do this, I feel better not doing so. At the same time, from what I can see, the formula's given online, lack an element that makes the boom even bigger.

Overall, the old farmers method does work, but on my farm (and if I get to mining), I will not use it. Partly because it is hard to get that main element now, and it is just not 1985 anymore. There are other ways now.

 

[OreCart]

One way the old times busted out rock was with fire. This would not work so well in a underground mine, but in an open pit mine, a person could light a fire along the face of the open pit mine and have the heat from the fire break the rock up...even better if there is water there to rapidly cool the hot rock to cause even greater thermal shock.

For me, I got plenty of wood, but might even go with coal. Coal is cheap and produces a much hotter fire and would most likely be cheaper then buying explosives. Col would not send off sparks either, but most likely I would only use this in the winter. Fortunately this is Maine so that is about 11 months out of the year!

 

[OreCart]

Another tool I liked, was a cylinder that was inserted into a hole in the rock, then a pump was turned on and a dozen tiny jacks inside pressed upwards busting the rock out. This worked good, but it took something like a 4 inch hole to start with! That seemed excessively hard to do on microscale mining.

An alternative to that was an adaption of the feathers and wedges method of breaking rock. Only it had a long set of feathers that a wedge was driven through by a long hydraulic cylinder. That required a much smaller hole size, but if the ram did not bust up the rock, it could be withdrawn and extenders put on the feathers to break the rock fully. I liked that, and it seemed a person could make one homemade easy enough.

 

[OreCart]

Here is a video for that latter rock splitter...

 

[tamrock]

Here is a video for that latter rock splitter...

Dartas are considered the best of hydraulic splitters I've heard. They ain't cheap though and those plug and feather tools wear out with some frequency and those are pretty pricey also. You need also a good rockdrill to. One of the mines I sell bits and steel to has I think 10 of those splitters. They search for rare and valuable mineral specimens and use the splitters to carefully excavated the specimens, to reduce damage. When I sold the jackhammer moil points and chisels to dang near every equipment rental yard in Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico a few of those rental houses kept a hydraulic rock splitter or two in there fleet. If recall one outfit in Flagstaff, AZ had like 4 or 5 of them, as he had a good demand for them in that area. I think we might have a Chinese made hydraulic splitter, the boss purchased to see if it's worth crap to sell for a bargain, but I haven't really heard how's it's worked out, but I do believe it's been rented out a few times down in Arizona.

 

[OreCart]

Dartas are considered the best of hydraulic splitters I've heard. They ain't cheap though and those plug and feather tools wear out with some frequency and those are pretty pricey also. You need also a good rockdrill to. One of the mines I sell bits and steel to has I think 10 of those splitters. They search for rare and valuable mineral specimens and use the splitters to carefully excavated the specimens, to reduce damage. When I sold the jackhammer moil points and chisels to dang near every equipment rental yard in Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico a few of those rental houses kept a hydraulic rock splitter or two in there fleet. If recall one outfit in Flagstaff, AZ had like 4 or 5 of them, as he had a good demand for them in that area. I think we might have a Chinese made hydraulic splitter, the boss purchased to see if it's worth crap to sell for a bargain, but I haven't really heard how's it's worked out, but I do believe it's been rented out a few times down in Arizona.

That is good to know. I do not know anyone around here who rents them, but then this is not exactly a mining state.

I love to make things go boom, but sadly it is just no longer worth it. It just is not 1985 anymore.


I did see where Jeff Williams used Sierra Blasters as mini-dynamite, but it was for blasting out an underground eluvial deposit and not hard rock mining. He used plumbers putty to hold the charge into the hole. It might work on hard rock, but I kind of doubt it, and even then the price was kind of high, and I am not sure how much production a person would get per mini-stick of dynamite.

Even with a blasters license, and producing your own explosives, I just do not see blasting as really being worth it.

For me, my very limited surveying so far has concluded that I am running veins of quartz at 20-40 feet apart in a 218 degree strike pattern. Since I can get at the seam from the surface, I think it would be cheaper to just hammer out the seam, then dig it out with the excavator, then process the rock. I am limited how far down I can dig, but by the time I traverse one end of this farm to the other, I would be most likely dead.

IF my assay reports stay on track, at 50% gold separation, I would have to process less than a hundred cubic yards of rock per year to pay my yearly property taxes. That has always been the goal.

Those are loose numbers of course, but it is the kiss principle...Keep It Simple Sir

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

I'm told there are two part blasting chemicals that are typically an entirely lower level of regulation.
The storage bunker and special transportation requirements that apply to high explosives goes out the window.

Some special licensing is typically required.

I've been told it works well on softer weathered bedrock but they use it to take care of large car sized boulders.
Rather than being thrown a mile, the fractured rock pretty much stays put.

Something like low pressure high volume VS. high pressure low volume...something to that effect.

 

[tamrock]

I'm told there are two part blasting chemicals that are typically an entirely lower level of regulation.
The storage bunker and special transportation requirements that apply to high explosives goes out the window.

Some special licensing is typically required.

I've been told it works well on softer weathered bedrock but they use it to take care of large car sized boulders.
Rather than being thrown a mile, the fractured rock pretty much stays put.

Something like low pressure high volume VS. high pressure low volume...something to that effect.

That's binary explosives. Long ago I was a purchase agent for a blasting contractor and I'd order that for the fellas who did strategic detailed blasting in coal power plants to carefully knock out the built up clinker. Sometimes a power plant would have a maintenance shutdown and they'd call for the expert to come and knock out as much build up he could. He'd hire and pack all he needed in a private plane and charge $1000.00 an hour, plus expenses to do what he could in the time allowed. Back then you could safely transport it without any placards as the binary isn't volatile until the two parts are combined. That was in 1990, but I'm sure the ATF has a whole new set of rules when dealing with it now.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_explosive

 

[tamrock]

This is another product to think about. Auto-Stem. Below are some of the feedback and pic's I got from a small UG gold mine I'm dealing with. The video is one I found on YT.

Yeah, it's interesting stuff. We can ship it by fedex because it's 1.4s and is a pyrotechnic It breaks the rock alright but shoots it everywhere so it's a pain to muck. It's about $800 to $1000 a case depending on the number and cartridge size.
It also requires a hole that's exactly the right size or it won't work [/I]

 

[Mad Machinist]

A little more information on the 1.4S classified "explosives". You DO need an explosives license to buy and use them but it is a low explosives license and it is a little easier to get.

Storage requirements are met by your basic two lock job box from the Home Depot with a rhino lined interior. That's it. No miss, no fuss.

Now, the 1.4S explosives WILL NOT work outside of a bore hole. You can step on it, set it off, and it will basically catch on fire and burn while not hurting your foot one bit ( not that I recommend this).

$200, an interview, a background check, and a storage inspection will get you your license as long as everything checks out.

And you can transport up to 1000 pounds of 1.4S without placards. No haz-mat, no permits, no placards, just flying under the radar without alerting everyone to what your doi d.

 

[Mad Machinist]

There are currently two 1.4S systems that I know of in the States right now. The AutoStem system and the Royex system. Both have their good points and bad points. Both offer training on their systems so your not flying blind.