Author 1:
Name & Surname: Tokarev O. V.
Company: Kola Mining and Metallurgical Company (Monchegorsk-7, Russia)
Work Position: Deputy Director for Minerals and Raw Materials, Head of Mine Management
Contacts: e-mail: tokarevov@kolagmk.ru

Author 2:
Name & Surname: Kuzenkov M. V.
Company: Kola Mining and Metallurgical Company (Monchegorsk-7, Russia)
Work Position: Head of Mining Department, Mine Management

Author 3:
Name & Surname: Rastorguev R. G.
Company: Kola Mining and Metallurgical Company (Monchegorsk-7, Russia)
Work Position: Chief Miner, Mine Management

Author 4:
Name & Surname: Overchenko M. N.
Company: Orica CIS (Kostomuksha, Russia)
Work Position: General Director
Scientific Degree: Candidate of Engineering Sciences

In 1998 in the industrial infrastructure area of Pechenganickel (now Kola MMC), under the contract with Dyno Nobel company (project designer), a shop was constructed for manufacturing emulsion explosives for open pit mining. Open pit mining with only emulsion explosives (EE) showed considerable advantages of the latter over powder explosives. Based on the results of using Subtek EE, it has been concluded that:
• EE efficiency and ore fragmentation quality are higher than with explosive Grammotol-20 of in-house manufacture;
• In wet holes with water inflow up to 10 l/min, Subtek keeps stability, preserves its properties and ensures the required ore fragmentation quality;
• Labor content of hole charging is decreased as no hand loading of EE in a charging plant is required;
• The crowing advantage is the high safety of blasting due to the use of non-explosive components of EE prior to their mixing and charging;
• Toxic emissions in the mine air are considerably reduced as EE oxygen balance is close to zero;
• Working conditions of blasting personnel are substantially improved since no dust is generated during EE charging;
• Subtek EE manufacturing and application costs are lower than the same values of Grammotol-20;
• With Subtek EE, drilling-and-blasting patterns have enlarged spacing of fans of holes and individual holes, which offers extra high economical effect due to cut down cost of drilling-and-blasting.
In 2015 hole blasting of ore has been entirely switched to Subtek EE, and it is planned to change to Subtek EE hole charging in heading operations.

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