Electronic initiation systems: are they an opportunity being missed?

The development of the electronic detonator and its clear advantage in accurate delay timing has provided the quarrying, mining and civil blasting sectors with a number of opportunities for significant increases in efficiency. They reintroduce the benefit, lost with the advent of non-electric detonators, of testing the circuit before firing and enable detonators to be individually programmed with a timing accuracy of 0.5-1 ms. Site safety and vibration control are both improved, while potentially the greatest value is in the delivery of improved fragmentation as negative interaction between shock waves is reduced. Direct costs, however, are higher, whereas the saving in cost per ton by regulating output or reducing machinery wear over a period of years is less visible and not so easy to calculate. The best opportunity for cost savings and efficiencies lies in the introduction of electronic initiation systems in association with a wider review of quarrying operations.
The development of the electronic detonator and its clear advantage in accurate delay timing has provided the quarrying, mining and civil blasting sectors with a number of opportunities for significant increases in efficiency. They reintroduce the benefit, lost with the advent of non-electric detonators, of testing the circuit before firing and enable detonators to be individually programmed with a timing accuracy of 0.5-1 ms. Site safety and vibration control are both improved, while potentially the greatest value is in the delivery of improved fragmentation as negative interaction between shock waves is reduced. Direct costs, however, are higher, whereas the saving in cost per ton by regulating output or reducing machinery wear over a period of years is less visible and not so easy to calculate. The best opportunity for cost savings and efficiencies lies in the introduction of electronic initiation systems in association with a wider review of quarrying operations.