ABSTRACT
The open-pit mining process is generally made up of a sequence of unit operations including drilling, blasting, loading, hauling, and crushing. Drilling and blasting can have a major impact on the performance and cost of subsequent operations. The prime objective of these two operations is to obtain optimum fragmentation within safe and economical limits. As a result, a quick and accurate evaluation process is required to assess its effectiveness. Today, the most accurate method of measuring fragment size is sieving analysis. The drawback of this method is that it is a time-consuming and labor-intensive process. The disadvantage of the prediction methods is the lack of actual measurement of the fragments which may result in inaccurate assessment. There is a need for a more reliable and effective way of obtaining grain size distribution than by sieving analysis while providing more accurate results than the predictive methods. The problem of determining the grain size distribution of blast fragmentation from the surface of a pile of fragments has been studied by many researchers. This paper discusses the application of Doppler radar (Semi-automatic method) as the possibility of fragmentation material measurements during the blasting and the direct possibility of its further use in building other construction such as road embankments where grain size plays a decisive role. With this refinement, it is possible to omit additional crushing of the material, which is associated with financial costs. Effective use of residual material as well as mitigation of environmental impact by associated technologies would be achieved.
