Project Details
T&A Rock Works Inc. hosting GeoBreak to provide Nxburst training for 7 of their blasters to use Nxburst in construction, logging and quarry applications – located in Kelowna, BC – completed October 2019
Scope of the Project
- Use various Nxburst Rock Breaking Cartridges to break oversize boulders at Kelowna Sand & Gravel
- Provide further knowledge of Nxburst to ticketed blasters’ on various rock breaking and concrete demolition projects
- Understand the difference in Nxburst and high explosive products
GeoBreak provided a Nxburst training course to T&A Rock Works in Kelowna to add on to their extensive services T&A already provide. T&A offers rock drilling services, quarry bench design, drilling & blasting, urban blasting, blasting for logging roads, slope stabilization and high scaling, non-explosive rock breaking using GeoBreak Expanding Grout, and rock breaking and concrete demolition to name a few. And now.. adding Nxburst into their arsenal for non-detonating rock breaking for quarries, construction blasting and other sensitive rock breaking applications to reduce noise and vibrations.
The training for T&A’s blasters’ started at Kelowna Sand & Gravel. An early morning sunrise overlooking the City of Kelowna was not a bad way to start the day. The boulders blasted ranged from 1m3 – 4m3. With an excavator digging material behind us and a clearance of 25 meters for the blasts, this demonstrated how controlled the use of Nxburst can be showing its advantages. The cartridges used were 40 grams (g), 60g, 80g and 120g. These cartridges are consistently used for boulders to reduce exposure to fly rock and provide flexibility for desired fragmentation. Boulders can pose a risk given the exposed multiple free faces. With minimal clearance, splitting and shearing of the rock created excellent, usable rock wall material for the quarry. The key is to blast the rock/concrete safely, get the material moving, excavate and move on. Whether it is a quarry environment or busy construction site, Nxburst provides safe advantages for your application.
Which GeoBreak Products Were Recommended
40g, 60g, 80g and 120g Nxburst Rock Breaking Cartridges were recommended to showcase various charge weights and their capabilities on different size rock to blast.
Expected Outcome
The expected outcome was to blast rock keeping flyrock within 2m of rock breaking event using Nxburst Rock Breaking Cartridges in controlled fashion for each boulder blasted.
Actual Outcome
Nxburst blasted and broke the rock eliminating and keeping flyrock less than 2m away from each blast.
Final Thoughts From The Project Contractors
“We’re Nxburst certified! We’d like to thank Matt from GeoBreak for doing an excellent job training the crew! Nxburst is an alternative to traditional explosives and is a non-detonating product used for certain applications in construction, mining and quarrying.”
GeoBreak provided training to T&A Rock Works blasters showing the difference in Nxburst and high explosive product which we consistently use. No magazine or TDG for the product and the ability to create more usable rock for our quarry clients and blasting on congested construction sites more manageable for future considerations.
