Using Small-scale Blast Tests and Numerical Modelling to Trace the Origin of Fines Generated in Blasting.

Waste fines from rock breakage often negatively influence economics and environment. The Austrian Science Fund (FWF) sponsors a project to investigate the cause of the fines by studying blast fragmentation throughout small-scale blast tests and numerical simulations. The tests include blast-loading confined granite and mortar cylinders by detonating cord with 6, 12, and 20 g/m of PETN.