Stope Blast Vibration Analysis at

Dugald River Underground Mine

R Hassell1, E Villaescusa2, R de Vries3 and J Player4

ABSTRACT
Concerns regarding the uncertainty of stope dilution at MMG Dugald River Underground Mine
led to a trial stoping program to acquire full-scale comprehensive geotechnical information and to
test the validity of the geotechnical and mining parameters. Given that stope production drilling
and blasting is a key parameter that influences dilution a detailed stope blast vibration project was
implemented. The stoping trial consisted of 19 stopes, a combination of both sublevel open stoping
and longitudinal and transverse stopes, of which five were monitored for blast vibrations.
The blast vibration project utilised 20 triaxial geophones and five triaxial accelerometers installed
in the hanging wall of five monitored stopes. For each stope fired, full blast waveforms were
recorded along with detailed information of the blast design. Analysis of the blast vibrations used
the Holmberg-Persson approach, with potential damage determined by the relative (Holmberg-
Persson) K values.
The project identified the benefit of parallel, breakthrough slot holes in reducing blast vibration
damage. The results show that radial rings toeing or stabbing into the stope wall lead to higher
vibrational energy yield which contributed to increased overbreak. Hanging wall overbreak,
by comparison, with parallel, breakthrough blastholes with 1 m standoff, combined with lower
density explosive charging (0.8 EP) and increased delays limited blast vibration damage. A number
of ring burdens from 1.4 m to 2.5 m were monitored with no difference in terms of energy yield
being identified. Changes to the stope drill and blast design are suggested to better control the
large blast vibrations and recommendations from this project have been implemented into future
mine design and planning.

INTRODUCTION Geological conditions

The Dugald River Zn-Pb-Ag deposit is located 85 km north-
west of Cloncurry, Queensland. The deposit was discovered
pre-1880, with first systematic exploration not occurring until
the 1950s. It is regarded as one of the largest and highest-
grade known undeveloped deposits of zinc, lead and silver in
the world with a Total Mineral Resource (measured, indicated
and inferred) of 55 Mt at 13.4 percent zinc, 2.1 percent lead
and 36 g/t silver (MMG Limited, n/d). The deposit was
acquired by MMG Ltd in 2009, with mine development starting
in February 2012. Exposure of the geological conditions
during development together with underground diamond
drilling highlighted a more complex and challenging mining
environment than predicted in the feasibility study. A mining
method review was completed in mid-2013, which concluded
that there was an unacceptable level of uncertainly in regards
to stope dilution. It was recommended that a trial stoping
program be completed to address the main uncertainties
regarding this. Trial stoping commenced in early 2014. Given
stope production drilling and blasting are key parameters
that influence stope dilution (Villaescusa, 2014a), a detailed
stope blast vibration project was implemented as part of the
overall trial stoping study.
The Dugald River deposit occurs within the eastern fold belt
of the Mt Isa Inlier and the Dugald Lode is hosted within a
steeply dipping black slate sequence of low metamorphic
grade. The deposit is a steep dipping tabular orebody,
extending approximately 2 km along strike and to a depth
of approximately 1 km. The orebody strikes approximately
northsouth (MGN), dips between 45 to 85 to the west, and
varies in true thickness from 2 to 35 m. The area of greatest ore
thickness occurs in the central part of the orebody between
the depths of 300 and 600 m, which coincides with the area
of flattest dip.
The hanging wall slates (HWSL) occur in the immediate
hanging wall of the Dugald Lode and typically vary in
thickness between 50 and 100 m. In the area where the Dugald
Lode dip flattens to less than 50, the thickness can be as little
as 10 m. Muscovite schist, mafic porphyry and calc-silicates
units are to the west of the hanging wall of the HWSL. The
HWSL typically consist of massive, fine-grained dark grey
slate, spotted in places; to laminated, fine-grained dark grey
to light grey slates, often with carbonate veining.

1. MAusIMM, Geotechnical Engineer, Dugald River Mine, MMG, PO Box 69, Cloncurry Qld 4841. Email: rhett.hassell@mmg.com
2. Professor and Industry Chair Mining Rock Mechanics, Western Australian School of Mines, Curtin University of Technology, Locked Bag 30, Kalgoorlie WA 6433. Email: e.villaescusa@curtin.edu.au
3. MAusIMM, Senior Geotechnical Engineer, Dugald River Mine, MMG, PO Box 69, Cloncurry Qld 4841. Email: rhett.devries@mmg.com
4. MAusIMM(CP), Principal Geotechnical Engineer, MineGeo Tech Pty Ltd, PO Box 8054, Kalgoorlie WA 6433. Email: johnplayer@minegeotech.com.au

11TH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON ROCK FRAGMENTATION BY BLASTING / SYDNEY, NSW, 2426 AUGUST 2015 221
R HASSELL et al
The footwall slates and limestones are to the footwall of the
Dugald Lode. A narrow zone of footwall slates (FWSL) grade
to limestone (LMST) over a distance of up to 50 m. In some
areas the footwall slates are absent and the limestone forms
the footwall contact with the Dugald Lode. The footwall slates
are almost identical in geological and geotechnical parameters
to the hanging wall slates.
The orebody is hosted by slate and is dominated by sphalerite
and pyrrhotite/pyrite with minor galena, arsenopyrite and
chalcopyrite. It ranges from massive sulfide breccias with
large angular clasts of slate to stringer veins hosted in slate.
The area selected for trial stoping at Dugald River is
located at shallow depth (<250 m below the ground surface).
The rock mass consists of a steeply west dipping, bedded
rock intersected by large-scale, potentially weak, geological
discontinuities. Some of these features are subparallel to the
orebody and sometimes located within the orebody or the
immediate hanging wall of the designed stopes. A cross-
section showing the fault locations is shown in Figure 1. The
structures show variability along strike and down dip, even
within a single stope geometry (ie 20 m along strike). The rock
mass outside the geological structures can be rated as fair to
good, as indicated by the low frequency of discontinuities
per metre and the high strength of the intact rock. Average
uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) of the massive/breccia
orebody is approximately 200MPa. The strength of the host
rock slates is about 150 MPa with both rock masses having a
high modulus.
FIG 1 Cross-section through the trial stopes showing major fault orientations.
222 11TH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON ROCK FRAGMENTATION BY BLASTING / SYDNEY, NSW, 2426 AUGUST 2015
TRIAL STOPING AND MINING METHODOLOGY
The objective of the trial stoping was to acquire full-scale
comprehensive geotechnical information and learning
through a cash flow neutral preproduction program, to test the
validity of current geotechnical and mining parameters. The
selection of the trial stoping area, termed Zone 6, was based on
the drilling information available at the time. As such, it was
seen to be representative of the likely hanging wall rock mass
conditions expected across the orebody in late 2013.
Mining of the trial stopes was by sublevel open stoping
(SLOS) with cemented rock fill (CRF). Sublevel heights
were 25m and stope strike lengths varied from 15 to 30m.
A total of 19 stopes were taken during the trial. A long
section of the trial area is shown in Figure 2, with the five
blast monitored stopes outlined. Due to the variability in
the lode width both longitudinal and transverse stopes were
designed with a value of 12 m being the critical dimension
between the transitions. In addition to the blast vibration
project a significant geotechnical instrumentation program
was completed concurrently.
FIG 2 Longitudinal section showing trial stopes sequence
with white outlined stopes being blast monitored.
Stope production drilling
Stope production drilling was completed using a Sandvic
DL42115C. A blasthole diameter of 89 mm was considered
suitable for the range of stope heights (floor to floor distances
of 25 m) being designed at Dugald River. This allows for
holes exceeding 30 m (if required) to be drilled at a nominal
2.52.8m burden (Villaescusa, 2014a). A range of ring burdens
from 1.4 m to 2.5 m were trialled. Spacing to burden ratios of
1.41.8 were maintained where possible.
Breakthrough holes were surveyed at the collar and toe
location to determine drill hole deviation. A collaring error of
less than 200 mm from the design location and a toe deviation
of less than two percent of the borehole length was targeted.
 STOPE BLAST VIBRATION ANALYSIS AT DUGALD RIVER UNDERGROUND MINE
For the five monitored stopes the average collaring error was
228mm and the average toe deviation was 2.17 percent. The
level of drill hole accuracy was less than target and initiated an
improvement in operational factors such as survey markups,
rig positioning, calibration of the inclinometer and drilling
speed.
Drilling was undertaken from ore drive development
located in the hanging wall of the orebody with drive width
narrower than the orebody. Drilling was designed using
radial holes toeing into the stope footwall (FW) boundary but
parallel to the designed hanging wall (HW). For transverse
stopes, the slot was drilled in the cross-cut drive but not
parallel to the dip of the orebody. Typical drill plan sections
are shown in Figure3. Parallel HW holes were considered
beneficial for reducing blast damage to the stope hanging
walls and limiting dilution. A disadvantage of radial drilling
is that drilling and blasting becomes more difficult as a
uniform explosive distribution may not be achieved.
FIG 3 Typical longitudinal (left) and transverse drill plans (right).
Two types of winze designs were trialled in the blast
monitoring stopes, both of 3.0 m 3.0 m size: a conventional
longhole winze (LHW) design incorporating four reamers
(203mm diameter) and 13 blastholes and a raise bored
(1000mm diameter) assisted winze with 12 blastholes
(Figure4).
Explosives
Ammonium nitrate emulsion was used as the bulk explosive
and was loaded into blastholes using a Hypercharge Drive
unit. The unit combines the non-explosive emulsion with
sensitiser to deliver the water resistant explosive to the
blasthole (Orica, 2011). A nominal emulsion density of
1.09g/cm3 was used for all holes other than hanging wall holes
where a density of 0.87g/cm3 was used. The lower density
explosive in the hanging wall was used to aid in limiting
blast damage. i-kon electronic detonators (Orica, 2014) were
utilised for all mass blasts due to their greater timing accuracy,
increased delay interval and reduced probability of cut-offs.
Electronic detonators can be logged in delay increments of
1ms from 0 to 15 000 ms. Non-electric detonators utilising
the shock tube initiation system were used only for winze
firings. These detonators have considerably larger scatter in
their detonation time.
11TH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON ROCK FRAGMENTATION BY BLASTING / SYDNEY, NSW, 2426 AUGUST 2015
A
FIG 4 Plan views of designs for (A) a longhole
winze and (B) a raise bore-assisted winze.
Sequence
Sublevel open stoping (SLOS) requires sequential blasting of
three areas: winzes, slots and rings. Winzes (3.0 m 3.0m)
create the initial void into which the slot (3.0 m width of
stope) is then fired. The remainder of the stope, termed ring
firings, is then fired into the slot. A combination of these
areas can be fired in one blast, which provides productivity
efficiencies; however, this also increases the risk of misfires
and frozen ground. With the use of electronic detonators, the
risk can be greatly reduced. The limiting factor to the size of
many of the blasts is the available void. A minimum void
ratio of 30 percent was used. Stope 2 was sequenced with
the slot fully extracted before charging and firing the rings.
This created a working-at-heights exposure risk, which was
eliminated in subsequent stope firing sequences by firing the
winze and slot to a cap. With the use of raise-bore-assisted
winzes the initial winze firing was included in the undercut
firing reducing the number of firings from three to two.
Timing
The fundamental objective of the blast timing is to provide each
charge column with as many free faces as possible to break
into. The cut-off slot is the most important geometry in sublevel
stoping as it provides a free face and void for the remainder of a
stope to be blasted into. Slots are critical areas where significant
rock mass damage can occur due to the high concentration of
explosive energy utilised to ensure an initial free face or void.
Typically, 15002000 ms were used to fire the winze, followed
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immediately by the slot holes, which were fired 100 ms apart.

Between the slot and rings a delay of up to 1500 ms was used A
to ensure the slot material had moved from the void. The rings
were fired with an inter-ring timing of 23 ms/m of spacing and
between rings greater than 40 ms/m of burden. An additional
delay of 40 ms was used for the hanging wall holes to ensure as
many free faces as possible.

STOPE BLAST VIBRATION MONITORING

In general, the objectives of a blast vibration monitoring
program can focus on one of two areas, namely: a fundamental
timing analysis identifying the location and cause of any
misfired blastholes and also a detailed vibration analysis
assessing blast damage, which may ultimately aid stope
stability analysis. The approach includes several stages as
follows (Villaescusa, 2014b):
1. design and installation of sensors (geophones and
accelerometers) at locations appropriate for monitoring
the different blasting sequences within a stope and
meeting the program objectives
2. monitor the level of vibration from the various stages of a
stope extraction (rise, slot and production rings)
3. analysis of the data to determine a relationship between
vibration level, distance and explosive quantity for each
of the blasts B
4. identify a link between vibration level and overbreak or
damage around a stope perimeter
5. modelling of the blast patterns to identify expected zones
of poor fragmentation within the blast or damage around
the stope boundaries.
The key objective for the blast vibration monitoring was to
assess the extent of blast vibration damage and to provide
recommendations on drill hole orientation, ring burdens,
stand-off distances, sequencing and timing to reduce blast
damage.

Blast vibration monitoring system design

The monitoring system used at Dugald River comprised
an Instantel Minimate Plus unit and an interface box. Each
Instantel device has eight channels and allows two triaxial
sensor arrays to be used for, either two geophones, two
accelerometers or a combination of accelerometers and
geophones. The triaxial sensor has one element oriented
directly towards the stope (referred to as the radial), one
sensor orientated parallel to a stope hanging wall (referred to
as the transverse) and a third sensor oriented vertically. The
sensor arrays were constructed specifically for the available
hole diameter (NQ2 diamond) and orientation. FIG 5 Typical stope hanging wall blast monitoring
The research project utilised 24 triaxial geophones and six layout in (A) section and (B) plan views.
triaxial accelerometers installed over five trial stopes. Typically,
each stope had three vibration monitoring holes drilled from Accelerometers were positioned closest to the stope
a geotechnical monitoring hanging wall drive. The centre boundary because of their capability for recording the high
monitoring hole for each stope has an accelerometer 24 m frequencies that occur in close proximity to blasthole charges.
from the hanging wall blasthole, a geophone approximately The accelerometers used were the PCB 356A01, with ag range
3m further away and a second geophone a further 3 m. The with a nominal 5 mV/g sensitivity. Unlike the geophone
additional two vibration monitoring holes for each stope have elements, accelerometers require an excitation voltage, which
a single geophone in each hole 5 to 7 m from the blasthole.
is provided to the unit via the interface box within each
The coordinates for each sensor location are based upon the
of the units. Accounting for the maximum voltage input
distance along the monitoring hole. A typical monitoring set-
up used at Dugald River is shown in Figure 5, where different permissible with the Instantel units, the sensitivity is adjusted
monitoring holes being a geophone hole, an observation hole in the interface boxes to 0. 00182 V/g. The geophones used
and an extensometer hole are shown. Data can be collected were OYO MicroSeis 101 LT with a frequency response of
from closed walls (excavation not exposed), from exposed 142000 Hz and a range of 02000 mm/s. The 101 LT is a
walls, adjacent to the stope void or from a filled wall following versatile geophone with a suitable frequency and amplitude
stope extraction. range for blast monitoring (Villaescusa, 2014b).

224 11TH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON ROCK FRAGMENTATION BY BLASTING / SYDNEY, NSW, 2426 AUGUST 2015
 STOPE BLAST VIBRATION ANALYSIS AT DUGALD RIVER UNDERGROUND MINE
Installation
Correct installation of the geophones/accelerometers was
critical to the success of the monitoring program. The
geophones and accelerometers were connected to slotted
PVC pipe and installed down 75.7 mm diameter diamond
drill holes. The pipes were marked and connected to ensure
the instruments were installed in the correct orientation.
Following final positioning the holes were grouted with
a 0.35 ratio water cement mixture and allowed to cure a
minimum of seven days before the first firing.
Data collection
Prior to each blast four Instantel Minimate Plus units were
each connected to two geophones/accelerometers. All
instruments could not be connected for each blast so only
those instruments deemed the most relevant were used. To
ensure that the start of each blast was recorded a separate
break wire was run from each unit to the location of the
electric detonator where it was joined to the detonator cord.
This ensured that the units started recording when the electric
detonator was initiated, which subsequently initiated the
downhole detonators. For i-kon blasts, which do not use an
electric detonator, an electronic detonator timed at zero was
substituted to specifically perform the wire break.
A total of 12 out of the 14 blasts were successfully monitored.
For each blast, the detailed charging and timing information
for each hole was recorded, including the ring number, the
hole number, the explosive column length, the blasthole
diameter, the delay time, the explosive density and the design
coordinates (x,y,z) of collar and toe locations of the charge
column.
For each instrument, full waveforms were recorded and
peak levels corresponding to each of the given delays as per
the nominal initiation sequence, were determined from the
waveforms. This was achieved by calculating the vector sum
from the geophones triaxial measurements and assigning the
peak vector sum to the relevant delay. Figure 6 shows the
vector sums from four sensors (VSG16, versus G17, versus
G12 and versus G18) during the mass blast of Stope 9. Delay
times as per the charge plan are also shown (blue diamonds).
Matching the delay to peak velocity is possible due to the
high accuracy of the electronic detonators; detonator error
FIG 6 Peak vector sum for four triaxial sensors with respect to an individual stope blasting sequence.
11TH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON ROCK FRAGMENTATION BY BLASTING / SYDNEY, NSW, 2426 AUGUST 2015
is 0.01 per cent of the delay time, which is considerably
less than the delays between charges. However, during
the analysis it was quickly noted that there was a standard
drift with the Instantel units of approximately 5 ms, which
needed to be accounted for. For winze firings, the long delay
times used (>200ms) meant that scatter with the non-electric
detonators did not affect the peak vibration selection. This
methodology allowed accurate identification of the peak
velocity at the geophone for each charge, irrespective of the
orientation of the blasthole relative to the geophone location.
The peak velocity for each hole was plotted at the blasthole
toe location (Figure 7) which allowed the identification of the
holes which were responsible for the high vibration.
BLAST VIBRATION ANALYSIS
In open stoping, equations to estimate the level of vibration
very close to a blasthole (where fracturing is occurring) must
be modified to account for the long, cylindrical shape of the
charges with respect to the monitoring locations. The typical
equations used for surface blasting, such as the USBM inverse
distance law, can only be applied when the distance between
the blasthole and the monitoring point exceeds three times
the length of the charge length (Villaescusa, 2014b). Empirical
evidence has shown that near field peak particle velocity (PPV)
levels from blasting can be linked to rock mass disturbance and
damage. One of the most widely used engineering methods
to model the attenuation of blast waves in a rock mass is the
Holmberg-Persson approach (Holmberg and Persson, 1980).
The basic assumptions of this approach are:
1. a radiating blast wave obeys charge weight scaling laws
2. the PPV due to each small element of charge within the
blasthole is numerically additive
3. the velocity of detonation (VOD) of the explosive charge
is accounted for in the estimated model attenuation
constants
4. the effect of free face boundaries is neglected, that is, the
analysis corresponds to fully confined blasting conditions.
Despite the above limitations, several studies have
demonstrated that PPV as an engineering index can be
successfully applied to infer the extent of potential damage
and disturbed zones. From a practical point of view, this type
of analysis allows the engineer to evaluate and better define
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FIG 7 Plan view of the maximum recorded vibration levels in mm/s with respect to toe of the holes (-1 values refer to holes not fired).

parameters such as stand-off distances, explosive charge

densities and overall charging configurations with the view
to minimise the extent of damage beyond the boundaries of
the excavation.
The assumptions allow the derivation of a non-linear
relationship to describe the peak particle velocity (PPV)
attenuation in the near field.

l H + xs - xo x -x a
PPV = K >d r nf arctan f p + arctan f o s p pH (1)
o ro ro
where:
l is the linear charge concentration (kg/m)
H, ro, xs, xo are geometric parameters (Figure 8)
This can be simplified to:

PPV = K 5 a?a (2)

where:
a  is defined as the Holmberg-Persson term (a term
which accounts for the explosive loading and
blasthole geometry)
K and a are the rock mass explosive specific attenuation
constants
Site specific constants K and were determined in order to
model peak particle velocity attenuation across the rock mass.
This is achieved by analysing near-field PPV measurements
for different blasting configurations and explosive types.
From the vibration waveforms, the peak vector sum vibration
FIG 8 Terms of reference of the Holmberg-Persson
equation (Holmberg and Persson, 1980).
levels were calculated and, according to the nominal initiation
time based on the blast plans and the recorded time of the
vibration pulse, a vibration level was assigned to a given
blasthole. The data was then plotted as vibration levels versus
the Holmberg-Persson Term.
The data can be regressed to determine equations that relate
vibration level to distance and explosive loading. The data

226 11TH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON ROCK FRAGMENTATION BY BLASTING / SYDNEY, NSW, 2426 AUGUST 2015

is fitted using a constant defining the rate of attenuation (a)
and the assessment of the potential damage from the blast is
determined by the relative K values. Higher values of K reflect
greater vibrational energy yield and potentially a greater zone
of damage around a blasthole. A value of a equal to 0.75 was
used for all the monitored blasts at Dugald River. A typical
analysis result is shown in Figure 9. In this example of the
final mass blast of Stope 9, the K value was calculated at 2200,
the largest K value calculated for the monitoring. Some of the
points do not fit this trend and the outlier high vibration points
are discussed later.
After determining the site specific attenuation constants,
predictions of the extent of blast damage/preconditioning
into stope walls can be made by applying the Holmberg-
Persson model and by considering a site specific critical PPV
or damage threshold given by the following relationship
(Persson, Holmberg and Lee, 1994):
TVp
PPVcrit =
E
where:
T is the tensile strength of the rock (Pa)
E is the elastic Youngs modulus (Pa)
Vp is the compressional wave velocity (m/s)
Intact rock property testing of the orebody and adjacent
slates provides tensile strength ranges from 10.0 to 18.5MPa
and a modulus from 55 to 73 GPa (Hogan and Thompson,
2014). Assuming a P-wave velocity of 5800 m/s this provides
a PPVcrit range from 800 mm/s for massive breccia to
1500 mm/s for unaltered slates. For this analysis, values of
PPV exceeding 1000 mm/s are considered critical.
Blast vibration analysis results
The underlying assumption is that the assessment of the
potential damage from a particular blast is determined by
the relative (Holmberg-Persson) K values. Higher values of
K reflect greater vibrational energy yield and potentially a
greater zone of damage around the blastholes. K values were
determined for each blast. However, given the complexity
of the blasts with multiple blast areas (winze, slot, rings) all
FIG 9 Vibration levels versus the Holmberg-Persson term for Stope 9, final mass blast (from Villaescusa, 2014b).
11TH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON ROCK FRAGMENTATION BY BLASTING / SYDNEY, NSW, 2426 AUGUST 2015
STOPE BLAST VIBRATION ANALYSIS AT DUGALD RIVER UNDERGROUND MINE
being fired together the blast vibration data was separated
into separate blast areas and K values determined.
Given that the values have been calculated for similar rock
mass conditions, stope size and monitoring location and
distances, they can be used as a relative comparison to assess
performance. Due to the large data set and subsequent time
restraints, the same level of analysis was not completed for
each stope. The comparative results for the Dugald River
stopes are shown in Table 1.
The values show that for comparable amounts of explosive
charges, most of the blast damage is occurring at the initial
stages of the void generation during the winze/slot creation
(and interaction between them). The process is complicated
by the stoping geometry with both parallel and radial drilling.
For example, for longitudinal stoping, the drilling drives are
not open across the full orebody width, thus requiring radial
drilling for the slot instead of the parallel drilling. With ore
drives located on the orebody hanging wall, radial drilling will
necessarily toe into the stope FW boundaries. To understand
(3) the effect of different blasthole orientations further analysis
is required.
Blasthole orientation
To determine the source of the high vibration the results
from ring firings were divided into damage potential from
breakthrough holes (B/T), FW Stabbing and radial toeing into
the footwall (FW Toeing), as per Figure 10. The blast vibration
data for ring firings for Stopes 5, 7 and 9 were separated
out based on this hole nomenclature and K values were
determined. The results, shown in Table 2, suggest that most
of the damage is occurring from the FW stabbing and radial
toeing into the stope footwall. Damage leading to overbreak is
augmented when steep west-dipping faults daylight into the
footwall stope boundary. This provides a plane of weakness
to which the rock fails back to.
The large vibrations (for the charge weight) emanating
from the footwall boundaries were being monitored within
the instrumented stope hanging walls. That is, the large
vibrations were being recorded even with the progressive
void being formed ahead of the detonation front at those
locations (ie centre of stope blasted first). The increase in
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TABLE 1
A comparison of K values at the Dugald River Mine (from Villaescusa, 2014b).

Stope Stope type Firing type Ring burdens K value

(m) Winze Slot Rings
2 Transverse LHW winze 1 a 567 a a
LHW winze 2 a 1200 a a
LHW winze 3, full slot a b b a
Rings 2.0 a a 2000
5 Transverse LHW winze 1 a 497 a a
LHW winze 2, slot undercut a 300 1000 a
LHW winze 3, slot, rings 2.0 850 1600 2200
7 Longitudinal LHW winze 1 a b b b
LHW winze 2, slot undercut a 1131 650 a
LHW winze 3, slot, rings 1.4 and 2.4 c c 2200
9 Transverse Raise bore winze 1, slot undercut a 350800 2000 a
Raise bore winze 2, slot, rings 2.0 and 2.5 c c 2200
10 Longitudinal Raise bore winze 1, slot undercut a 10002200 1000 a
Raise bore winze 2, slot, rings 1.9 and 2.0 350 500 800
a. Not part of firing; b. firing occurred but no vibration data recorded; c. firing occurred, data recorded, detailed analysis not completed.

FIG 10 Sections showing design and cavity monitoring system shapes with locations for breakthrough holes
(B/T), footwall (FW) stabbing holes and FW toeing holes. Fault locations are also shown.

TABLE 2
K values for ring firings by hole location (Villaescusa, 2014b).

Stope Firing number Ring burdens (m) K value

All rings Breakthrough Footwall stabbing Footwall toeing
5 5.3 2.0 2200 1600 1600 2200
7 7.3 1.4 1000 200 1200 1000
7 7.3 2.4 2600 180 600 2600
9 9.1 2.5 2200 2200 1100 2200

228 11TH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON ROCK FRAGMENTATION BY BLASTING / SYDNEY, NSW, 2426 AUGUST 2015
 STOPE BLAST VIBRATION ANALYSIS AT DUGALD RIVER UNDERGROUND MINE
blast vibration damage due to confinement of the blastholes
in the footwall is considerable. Cavity monitoring system
(CMS) surveys at those stope locations indicate damage such
as overbreak. The benefit of parallel, breakthrough holes in
reducing blast vibration damage is clear.
An exception to this was Stope 9 where high vibration
was observed in the hanging wall holes. This stope had a
large amount of underbreak on both the hanging wall and
footwall from the ring firing due to poor ground conditions
with collapsing holes leading to some holes being uncharged.
It is presumed the additional confinement provided by the
unfired holes created the high vibration results shown in
Figure 9.
Hanging wall blasthole stand-off distance
All stopes were designed with a 1 m blasthole stand-off from
the stope hanging wall boundary. The aim of the stand-
off was to limit rock breakage beyond the stope design.
Reconciliations of hanging wall overbreak following mining
compared favourably with the stand-off distance with
overbreak in good ground conditions limited to less than 1 m.
Hanging wall failure of Stope 2 in poor ground conditions
nearly reached the adjacent accelerometer position, where very
high levels of vibration (5000 mm/s) were measured at about
5.58.5 m distances from the hanging wall holes. This level of
vibration probably represents the limit of breakage for this rock
mass and stoping geometry as indicated by the CMS survey.
The results agree well with the notion that PPVbreakage is about
four times PPVcritical (Villaescusa, 2014b). Stope 7 accelerometer
was located about 3 m away from the hanging wall hole.
Back analysis of overbreak showed similar levels of PPVcritical
and PPVbreakage. Based on the accelerometer results, a stand-off
distance of at least a metre is required for the hanging wall holes
in order to minimise breakage beyond the stope boundary.
Ring burdens
Ring burdens ranging from 1.4 m to 2.5 m were monitored.
Observations on the quality of the ore walls following firing
generally showed relatively smooth, clean walls that have
broken back to the ring location (Figure 11). Some cratering
occurred at the collar. The monitoring data indicates a similar
level of vibration over several mass blasts (Table 2). The 1.4m
ring burden displayed the lowest vibration but its design was
the result of wall overbreak in the adjacent stope and is not
considered an economically viable option. The analysis could
not distinguish a significant difference between 2.0 m to 2.5m
ring spacings. Therefore, a 2.5 m burden is recommended for
FIG 11 View towards Stope 2 hanging wall showing
the condition of the ore walls after slot firing.
11TH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON ROCK FRAGMENTATION BY BLASTING / SYDNEY, NSW, 2426 AUGUST 2015
the 89 mm holes with the drilling practices and the rock mass
strength at Dugald River.
Firing sequence
The relatively tight mass blasting sequence (ie only two firings
per stope), used for some stopes did not seem to increase
damage to the rock mass compared to those stopes with a
greater number of firings. Stope 2 was extracted with four
firings and by firing out the slot completely before the ring
firings. This compares with Stopes 5 and 7 with three firings
and Stopes 9 and 10 with two firings. The later stopes had an
810 m cap over the slot that was fired with the rings during
the final mass firing. The results did not show a discernible
difference between the two methods. Later stope firings
during the trial that were not blast monitored successfully
fired out entire lifts (winze, slot and rings) in the one firing.
It is generally considered that a more sequential enlargement
of the winze and slot reduces blast damage prior to the mass
blasting. More data for an increased number of firings would
have been preferred, but given the current information, tight
mass blasting sequences perform well and with considerable
productivity benefits.
Winzes
Two types of winzes were used: a conventional longhole
winze (LHW) and a raise bore assisted winze (Figure 4).
Both winzes were 3.0 m 3.0 m, with the LHW containing
13 blastholes and 4 203 mm diameter reamers and the raise
bore assisted winze containing 12 blastholes and a 1000 mm
diameter raise bore. K values for LHW ranged from 3001200
(Stopes 2, 5 and 7; Table 1) and raise-bore-assisted from
3502200 (Stopes9 and 10; Table 1). Both winze methods had
comparable blast vibrations with the exception of the winze
and slot undercut firing of Stope 10.
The very high vibration levels for the raise-bore-assisted
winze during the first firing of Stope 10 were for the first eight
holes near the raise bored relief hole. The results suggest that
the use of a raise bore does not necessarily lower the stope
blast damage and that more holes may be required near the
raise bore hole to break its circularity very early on in the
detonation sequence. However, the raise bore-assisted winzes
tended to be fired over a greater length so alternatively,
shorter raise heights ahead of the slot creation could be
blasted to reduce the confinement.
The effect of backfill in limiting further damage in
adjacent stopes
The effectiveness of the fill mass was investigated by
monitoring Accelerometer A3 in the hanging wall of Stope2.
Figure 12 shows the response of A3 with the three blast events
on Stope 5 with K values from 549 to 850. This compares to
closed wall (before extraction) K values of 550, which were
recorded for other stopes. The accelerometer data suggest
that the cemented rock fill support is effectively stabilising the
filled voids. Hence, the data from filled stopes is similar to the
data obtained when the stope wall is not yet open.
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS OF THE BLAST
MONITORING RESULTS
The key outcome of the blast monitoring trial was to confirm
the benefit of parallel, breakthrough holes in reducing blast
vibration damage. Confining of blastholes by drilling of radial
rings toeing or stabbing into the rock mass leads to higher
vibrational energy yield which contributes to increased
overbreak. Comparison of overbreak volumes in Table 3
229
R HASSELL et al
FIG 12 Vibration levels versus the Holmberg-Persson term for mass blast for Stope 5 as monitored from
accelerometers A3 located in adjacent filled Stope 2 (from Villaescusa, 2014b).
TABLE 3
Overbreak volumes in the hanging wall and footwall
of the stopes that were blast monitored.
Stope Hanging wall overbreak Footwall overbreak
volume (m3) volume (m3)
2 364.5 243.5
5 24.5 293.2
7 420.8 98.8
9 203.3 198.3
10 30.7 343.6
Total 1043.8 1177.4
provides additional confirmation. The footwall had a greater
amount of overbreak volume than the hanging wall. This
compares well to the overbreak volume of all 19 stopes, with
4882 m3 in the hanging wall and 5655 m3 in the footwall.
Typical sections showing overbreak and underbreak have
been shown previously in Figure 10.
Both the hanging wall and footwall exposed similar ground
conditions, with an average hanging wall Q of 10.1 and an
average footwall Q of 9.3. Q values are for the first 5 m of
the hanging wall or footwall. The footwall can be regarded as
kinematically more stable with failure by sliding as opposed
to slabbing and gravity fall. Both surfaces were intersected
by faults, which often influenced the location and depth of
overbreak. Where faults daylighted into the stope, as shown
in Figure 10, the overbreak profile followed the fault plane.
The hanging wall did have the benefit of cable bolting from
the ore drive which controlled overbreak. However, the
evidence strongly suggests that the high vibrations created in
the footwall of the stopes are a major control on overbreak.
Hanging wall overbreak, by comparison, with parallel,
1m stand-off breakthrough blastholes combined with lower-
density explosive charging (0.8 EP) and increased delays
limited blast vibration damage. This was shown in the blast
230 11TH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON ROCK FRAGMENTATION BY BLASTING / SYDNEY, NSW, 2426 AUGUST 2015
vibration results and back analysing stope overbreak where
non-structural-related overbreak was limited to less than 1m.
Where faulting influenced the hanging wall, the depth and
extent of failure was less than seen in the footwall. This system
should be incorporated into future stoping at Dugald River.
Faulting of the rock mass surrounding stoping and the
subsequent reduction in rock mass quality is a reality of the
Dugald River orebody. Reducing the damage from stope
blast vibrations is considered a central control for reducing
fault related and non-fault related overbreak. To reduce the
level of footwall blast damage, a solution is to drill parallel
footwall holes particularly within the slot. However, there
are some practical considerations to these recommendations.
For transverse stopes with a cross-cut drive, the winze and
slot can be drilled parallel without any changes to the mine
design. Where the orebody dip is less than 70, there will need
to be some consideration on the drilling of the fired ore and
potential confinement of the footwall holes.
To achieve parallel drilling with the rings, additional footwall
ore drive development is required. This adds a significant
additional cost for each stope, with negative mine scheduling
implications. However, a large enough orebody width is
required to achieve this which is not common for Dugald River.
For longitudinal stopes, the ore drill drive will be required
to be opened to the full orebody width. Current ore drives are
5.5m wide, which allow for parallel drilling of the footwall and
hanging wall for orebody widths less than 3.5 m. Increased
development and ground support costs, variable orebody
widths and decreased stability from larger excavations all
need to be considered. Beyond a 7 m orebody width this will
not be practical and a cross-cut drive is required to ensure
parallel slot holes as a minimum.
Two types of winze were trialled, conventional longhole
winzes and raise bore-assisted winzes. Results show that the
introduction of the raise bore does not directly result in an
automatic reduction in blast damage. Winzes that are not
parallel to the hanging wall (and particularly when vertical)
result in high vibration due to radial drilling within the
 STOPE BLAST VIBRATION ANALYSIS AT DUGALD RIVER UNDERGROUND MINE
slot. Preferences for either winze type should be based on
scheduling and operational constraints to achieve parallel
holes within the slot.
The results showed that larger ring burdens and reduced
number but larger stope firing sequences do not appear to
increase the overall damage to the rock mass when compared
to smaller ring burdens and an additional staged firing
sequence. Both outcomes improve the productivity of the
stope cycle and confirm their low influence on blast damage.
CONCLUSIONS
A highly successful blast vibration monitoring program
was completed at Dugald River, which greatly enhanced
the understanding of the main controls on blast damage.
The effectiveness of the program relied on clear objectives,
strong management support, good instrument design, a
high level of oversight during instrument installation and
data collection, together with detailed analysis techniques
to understand what the data is saying. Such programs are
difficult to implement at an operating underground mine but
the benefit of actual data over opinions and rules of thumb
cannot be overstated.
The main parameters that cause high blast vibrations leading
to stope wall damage were identified with the advantage of
parallel breakthrough holes being clearly proven. Changes to
the stope drill and blast design are suggested to better control
blast vibrations. These controls have impacts beyond simple
ring design and timing. A cost benefit analysis of the options
was not part of the scope of the project but would greatly aid
in determining the balance between cost, productivity and
managing overbreak from blast vibrations.
11TH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON ROCK FRAGMENTATION BY BLASTING / SYDNEY, NSW, 2426 AUGUST 2015
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to acknowledge the help of Tom
Williams, Jack Carswell and Andrew Rajapakse, Geotechnical
Engineers at Dugald River, John Heilig from Heilig and
Partners and Italo Onederra from JKMRC for aiding in the
completion of the project. The authors would also like to
thank MMG for permission to publish this paper.
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