Selection of Explosives Used in Engineering and Mining Operations

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. Practically every class and every grade of commercial explosive are used in open-air work to meet varying conditions. In breaking down rock in quarries the explosives generally employed are: Black blasting powder, granulated nitroglycerin powder containing 5 to 15 per cent of nitroglycerin, straight nitroglycerin dynamites con taining 15 to 60 per cent of nitroglycerin, low-freezing dynamites commercially rated according to the equivalent percentage of strength of the straight nitroglycerin dynamites, and ammonia dynamites rated in a similar way. In recent years blasting gelatin, gelatin dynamites, ammonium-nitrate powders containing nitro substitution compounds, chlorate powders, and the se-called nitro starch powders have been used to a small extent in quarry work.