3686 Reflections on destress blasting for deep level hard rock mining: key considerations for successful application of the techniques
Reflections on destress blasting for deep level hard rock mining: key considerations for successful application of the techniques
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17159/2411-9717/3686/2025Abstract
Deep hard rock mines worldwide increasingly face rockbursts as mining depths increase. The accumulation of stress at depth results in violent and sudden energy release, causing rockmass damage. Rockbursts present numerous challenges, including fatalities, injuries, damage to expensive mining machinery, loss of production areas, increased material handling and excavation rehabilitation costs, and broader social and economic impacts. This paper focuses on destress blasting as one of the strategies for managing rockbursts. Practical experience with destress blasting in Swedish deep hard rock mines is limited, necessitating a review of global experiences to inform best practices in Sweden. Previous studies have shown that destress blasting stabilises mining excavations by redistributing peak stress away from mining zones into the surrounding rockmass, primarily by extending fractures. Key factors for an optimal destress blasting design include stress regime, rockmass properties, blast borehole dimensions and spacing, explosive properties, initiation sequence, and mining sequence. Given the geological and geotechnical variability across and within mines, it is impractical and costly to test numerous destress blasting design permutations in actual mining conditions. Numerical simulations play a crucial role in optimising designs by evaluating stress, energy, and stiffness variations to determine the most effective parameters before field implementation. This study also presents different approaches for evaluating the effectiveness of destress blasting and highlights current research limitations, recommending future studies to refine destress blasting strategies for Swedish deep hard rock mines.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Bekir Genc, Mr Tawanda Zvarivadza, Mr Changping Yi, Professor Dineva, Professor Onifade, Mr Manoj Khandelwal
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