IMPROVING BLASTING CONSISTENCY AND LOADING PERFORMANCE IN QUARRYING: A CASE STUDY USING O-PITBLAST TECHNOLOGY

The first phase of production cycle in quarrying operation is rock breaking by drilling and blasting. At CGC quarry, Itakpe in Kogi State, this study was carried out to understanding the existing method of fragmentation and the impacts on the loading and hauling performance. The conventional method of blasting which is trial and error has not been able to give a consistent result of 90% passing which is about 1000mm in diameter, this challenge was well analyzed and this research deployed O-Pit blast software solution to solve this challenge. Mechanical properties of the granite rock like density, uniaxial compressive strength, porosity, point-load and tensile strength were carried out. The properties serves to guide the choice of the blast parameters for the design of the blasting operations. The fragmentation that results from the series of blasts were analyzed to determine their uniformity which was at its best after the application of O-Pit blast solution. This uniform fragmentation that ranges from 650950mm passing were obtained which invariably enhanced efficient blasted rock movement, trucking capacity and reduced unnecessary idling.