Moongunya News 1984: New Explosives for CCP Opencut
[in photo: Blast Crew from left: Peter Barding (Drill and Blast foreman), Rodney Watson?, Tom O”Leary, Tony Brunker, Peter Sharp, Ron Van Wyk, Barry Poole (Short firer), Peter Strydon and Ross Hutchinson. ]
Blasting methods at Collinsville Coal Company’s Opencut has been upgraded with the recent purchase of Nonel Primadets and shock tubes.
A Nonel Primadet is a preassembled length of shock tube which transmits a noiseless initiation signal from borehole to borehole. A detonator cap is crimped to one end with the other end sealed.
The shock tube is made of tough plastic with a thin coating of explosive on the inside.
When one end of the tube is initiated, a low level reaction will start in the tube. The reaction in the tube is then carried through to the cap on the primadet.
The explosive reaction in the tube is similar to a dust or gas explosion and propagates with a linear velocity of approximately 6000 feet per second.
Shotfirer Barry Poole said “the primadet reduces surface noise considerably and is the first of its kind to be used in Queensland.”
Leave a Reply