!

COMPUTER APPLICATIONS

BLASTCAD - Noranda's
three-dimensional computer-aided
underground blast design system
P. Favreau and P. Andrieux, Noranda Technology Centre ,
Pointe-Claire, Quebec
ABSTRACT
This paper describes the progress accomplished at the Noranda
Technology Centre in the field of three-dimensional computer-aided
underground blast design. Traditional methods of laying out underground blasts are reviewed, and the new computer-aided approach
is described. Time savings achieved through the use of BLASTCAD
can be advantageously used to better engineer blasts, using m odels
and blast vibration analysis. Future work involving the attachm ent
of blast models directly to the system is also addressed.

Introduction
The Noranda Technology Centre's (NTC) Envirorunent and
Mining Laborato ry, in coopera tio n with the mining operat ions o f
the Noranda Group, is co mmitt ed to the development and implementation of new technologies in the field o f mineral extraction .
Within the frame of its research pr ogram, the Blasting Technology
Program is developing com p uter " tools" designed to assist the blasting engineer or technician . These computer " to o ls" are regrouped
under a glo bal so ftwa re system called BLASTCAD.
The BLASTCAD pr oject started in 1990 at NTC. At that tim e

Keywords: Computer applications, Underground mining, Blast design.

Paper reviewed and approved for publication by the

Computer Applications and Automation Committee.
Patrice Favreau graduated in 1987 from
the Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal with
a Bachelor degree in mining engineering,
with a specialization in computers. From
1981 to 1990, he worked for the BLASPA
company on the development of the computer blast simulator "BLASPA"; he became the main developerof this system in
1987. Since 1990, Mr. Favreau has been
working as a computer consultant in the
Blasting Technology Program of the
Noranda Technology Centre, focussing on
the development and the implementation
of the " BlastCAD" computer program .
A workshop on the subject of BLASTCAD, three-dimensional software
was presented by Patrice Favreau at the Fourth High-TechSeminar on Stateof-the-Art Blasting Technology, Instrumentation and Explosives Applications held in Nashville, Tennessee, June 20-25, 1992.
Patrick Andrieux graduated in 1985 from
the Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal with
a Bachelor degree in mining engineering.
From 1985 to 1988, he worked at various
quarries in the Montreal area, mainly as
a dri1ling and blasting engineer/foreman.
In 1988 he joined the Noranda Technology Centre in Pointe-Claire, as a blasting
research engineer. He is mainly involved
in blast damage research, instrumentation,
blast vibration monitoring and analysis,
software development and blast optimization.
62

co m puter programs designed to calc ulate and model vari ou s blas ting parameters had been accumulated . These pr ograms cam e from
different so urces and were mutually incompatible. Furthermore, they
were developed as research programs with tittle effort spent on user
interface. These programs are very useful, but are highly specialized, need large input files and can be quite tedious to use as "s tan dalone" pa ckages .
Therefore, the situation being faced was one where all these pro grams were available at the Noranda Technology Centre, but not
a t the operations. The two following options were then con sidered:
I . continue to run a ll the models and programs at the Noranda
Technology Centre, and present results through reports to the mines,
or
2. regr o up all the different programs under a single one that would
make them shar e the same dat a base and be transported to the user.
This second o ptio n is the o ne that was adopted ; the result is
BLASTCAD.
During the past two year s, adva ntage has been taken of the
pri vileged wo r king partnership with the Noranda o pera tions , to
develop BLASTCAD in close coo perat io n with them. Thi s involves
dev eloping prototypes at Noranda Technology Centre, installing
them at different mine sites for a period o f time , ga thering comments and feed-back , an d from this, eith er co ntinuing development
or backtracking (which was often done).
The three-dimensional, computer-aided underground blast design
system BLASTCAD has been a success at mo st o f the Noranda
operations. Ten operations throughout the Group are currentJy using
the program to produce their instruction sheets to und erground drilling a nd blasting crews. Descriptions co ntai ned in this paper relate
to version 2.2 of th e so ftwar e.

Underground Hard Rock Mining

Typical Underground Mine Layout
Most o f Noranda' s mining operat ion s are underground hard
rock orebodies. Figure I shows an isometric three-dimensional (3-D)
view of part o f an underground mine. The mesh represents the orebody itself (geological co nto urs ) a nd acce ss drifts ar e visible o n the
side. T he drifts are co nnected to a shaft, a ramp, or a com bination
of both, linking the underground network o f openings to the surface.

Drilling and Blasting Operations

A common practice in hard rock underground mines is to fragment the va lua ble rock (called the ore) by means of explosives, so
it can be mu cked, hauled, cru shed, hoisted to surface and processed
to extract the metals o f interest. The explo sives ar e placed into holes
drilled at determined lo cations (drilling patt ern) , a nd the explosion
of each hol e is sequenced with a detonator. A tine of holes is called
a blasting ring (Fig. 2 shows a typical example), an d is designed
to blast a " slice" of the stope.
Efficient drilling and blasting operations requ ire a lot o f plan ning and dr afting. Ore is extracted from a three-dimensional orebody which varies in sh ape , structure and geo logy. The ro c k typ es
a nd mechanical properties of both the foot wall and han ging wa ll
VOLUME 86. No. 967

COMPUTER APPLI CATIONS

BLASTCAD - NORANDNS THREE-DIMENSIONAL COMPUTER-AlDED DESIGN SYSTEM

',:

,~:

\i~l

RING

FOOTW<>J.L

FIGURE 1. T hree-dimensional isometric view of part of an underground

mine, showing the geological contours and the development access.

can be diffe rent. Geo mechanical properties o f the various types of

rock encountered in a blast are a big facto r in the planning process.
The goal of the blasting operations is to fragment and dislodge
only the ore, while the economically worthless surrounding rock
(called sterile o r waste) stays in place as compe tent rock (undamaged). If some sterile is blasted with the ore (causing dilution),
it will have to be processed at the same cost as for the or e, but
only to end up on the tailing pond. On the other hand , it is crucial
to recover as much o f the ore as po ssible, with a good fragmentation. Big blocks o f poorly blasted rock require secondary blast ing,
which is costly and time consuming.

Instruction Sheets to Mining Crews

Goals and Objectives
Instruction sheets detailing the drilling and blasting plan s are
typically produced by the blasting engineer or technician and handed
to the underground drilling and blasting crews for field implementation . These instruction sheets are called drillin g and blasting
" letters" . A letter usually addresses one ring, and becau se a ring
can be best represented on a plane (elevat ion view), the letters are
two-dimensional drawings. They represent sections that were cut
through the 3-D mine mod el. Letters typically display in 2-D the
ore contact, drift contours, and information pertaining to drill
setups, blasth ole locations, explos ive products and det onator
selections .

Current Meth ods

The drilling letter - Figure 3 shows a typical drilling letter done
by hand. The first letter to be produced is this drilling letter; in
order to obtain it, the designer must first cut a plane through the
3-D mine model to get a 2-D representation of the ore contact, drifts
elM BULLETIN , FE BRUARY 1993

FIG URE 2. Schematic view of underground drilling and blasting operations , showing blasthol es, explosives, detonators, and broken ore ready
for mucking.

and o ther present features. For a mine having no co mputerized

representation o f its orebody and development , this step mean s taking adjacent two-dim ensional sections on paper, and using conventional drafting meth ods, interpolate all the wanted contours for each
ring.
Once this first step of obtaining a 2-D sectio n containing the
required information is done, the next step is the layout of the drill
setups and blastholes. This can be done manually by drawing
markers corresponding to the desired location of the drill setups
in the drift, and by extending lines starting from a setu p to the
desired position of the toe of each blasthole in the ring. T o position the holes, the designer usually uses his own experien ce. Once
all holes have been drawn, the next step is to measure the length
and dip of each hole and the final position o f each drill setup. Pertinent information (such as total hole length, total tons in ring, etc.)
are then added to the letter.
The blasting letter - Drillers usually produ ce a report showing what
they were act ually able to drill . Befor e mo ving on to the design
of the blast itself, the designer will use this information to update
the blasth ole layout acco rdingly . He will the n dr aw the locatio n
o f the explosive charges on top of the holes, and show which detonator is to be used with each charge. Here again , the designer will
use his own experience. The next step is to calcula te the quan tities
of explosives, vo lumes of rock , powder facto rs, etc. and to write
this informatio n on the blasting letter.
Thi s meth od of producing drilling and blasting letters by hand
is time con suming, easily leads to calculat ion erro rs, and does not
alwa ys produce a clear document for underground crews. This
method is also quite inflexible, and poorly accomm oda tes last-minute
design changes. Furthermore, this information is not accessible by
computerized databases.
63

COMPUTER APPLICATIONS

BLASTCAD -

NORANDA'S TH REE-DlMENSIONAL COMPUTER-AIDED DESIGN SYSTEM

SECTl lJ\
i --- --- --- - - - -

l:::::~~p

i Cable-Bo lt
' Fi t Holes
. Pa r-e l le I Ilole)
~ Load xplosl u>
: tt.l ng )

.. <: < =
LA'lWT
tIOO
SAUl
READ
PATRlcr

DRILL
Dr II I- A

; Ulew Data
'/lodlfy>

; Letter)

lOE SPAC
--6.0-

I DrAW

Ouercut

e-strus

j DrilW

Ref-L ine

C-llURCT
C-SYllP

El ev -Llne

C-REF-L

1Draw St ope
I Draw

1;~~;-;i~~- UIEW l1At1y RUtG

- l BLASTCAD >
:A-n II1E3D >

A- Tfll" If.
1r1PRIAL
LOOXI"G
I\-ZlDI Y

CoJu.o.n : po.n
uf s pl ec eee nt :

Second po int: Regenerat ing drawing .

Colll1ll4nd :

.- .
(HANTIER :

L1GN[ :

I ------JI)

:rCJ-A 'I lI ER' 79- 7 ElAS

~

' ":' : '"

. :::.;. '
::.. . .:

I""

_(f"

-,

~"

: . -rr

FIGURE 3. Typical blasting letter done by hand .

BLASTCAD
Program Objectives
The BLASTCAD system has two objectives:
1. development of a three-dimensional underground (and later surface) blast design system based on a popular co mmercial computeraided drafting and design package (CADD); and
2. creation of a comm on database that can be shared by the different blasting models and assessment programs alread y in use at
Norand a Technology Cent re.
The second objective actually necessitated the rust. Creatin g the
common database could eventually be done by filling up ASCII
files o r formatted input tables, literally typing in all relevant information from hand-made designs. Instead, the common database
is built automatically while the user designs the blast clirectly on
the computer, using what is called the LAYOUT routines. This
speeds up the process by eliminating the hand-made design step .
It also is of paramount importance to develop a package usable
at all Noranda mine sites. Th e program must also take into consideration limitations encountered at the operations - it must run
on their current computer equipment, and must be compatible with
the so ftware in use.
The softw are must also be attractive to the user, reflecting the
way he or she works, using technical language familiar to drillers
and blasters, and being extremely user friendly and interacti ve.
Extensive use of explicit menus was pur sued , as well as interacti ve
mou se-driven functions.
From a programmer's point-of-view, the core of the prog ram
has to be the same at every operation. A different program cann ot
be installed at each mine because it would lead to problems in support ing and upgrad ing the system. However, the program must be
flexible enough to allow for customizati on at each mine site; this
part was found to be best handled by a "setup me" approach .
64

Description of BLASTCAD
Requirements

~ . ,..

, lIGN(-A

. c.-

FIGURE 4. Two-d imensional section (elevation view) produced from the

3-D mine model using the "cut section" command.

An evaluation of the average computer equipment available at

the Noranda oper ation s prompted the development of the system
to perform on a minimum of an IBM (or compatible) 386/25 with
a math- coprocessor and 6 Mb of RAM. However, the use of a
486/33 math-coprocessor with 8 Mb or more of RAM is recommended .
The co mmercial CAD D packages most used throu ghout the
Noranda sites are Auto CAD release 10 and release 11, and this software was thus selected as the CADD platform on which
BLASTCAD was built.
BLASTCAD takes full advant age of the built-in featur es of
AutoCAD*. The language used to program specific functions for
BLASTCAD is LISP* . The " C " language (now accessible with
AutoCAD release I I) can also be used to overcome some memory
and speed problems encountered with LISP .

3-D Models and Section Cutting

Th e BLASTCAD program requires a 3-D model of the mine
to work with . Most Norand a mines use the Integrated M ine Design
(lMD) system developed at Noranda. The IMD is composed of two
main modules: the A-MINE module that mana ges all graphical information (3-D mine layouts, geological models, mine development,
stope conto urs, etc.), and a Relational Data Base Mana gement
Syst em (RDBMS) module which handl es all the information not
encod ed within the AutoCAD drawings (rock quality parameters,
ore grades, ore values, geomechanical parameters, etc.). The
BLAST CAD program is directly linked to this A-MlNE/RDBMS
package (which performs all data access and managing of the mine
mod el). The 3-D mod el shown in Figure I was produced with the
IMD system. To cut sections through the 3-D model (which, in this
particular case, would represent the location of blasting rings) IMD's
" cut section" tool is used . This tool aUows the cut of sections in
any clirection. Figure 4 shows a section produced from the 3-D
model using this " cut section" comm and.

The Layout Routin es

The blasthole layout - The routines used graphically to design
blasts on the computer and autom atically to build the blasting database are grouped under the LAYOUT part of BLASTCAD . It is
*AutoCAD and LISP are registered trade marks of Autodesk inc., Sausalito.
California, U.S.A .
VOLU ME 86, No . 967

BLASTCAD -

COMPUTER APPLICATIONS
Dist to Ref-Line:

NORANDA'S THREE-DIMENSIONAL COMPUTER-AIDED DESIGN SYSTEM

1&.6<ftl

Rotate holes -

Holes

~nglc:

l ~~~:::s~~::::::;---~-L.-

SAVE

- - - - - ---1

READ

~i

.. ...""x.'t

"

_ __

TO lII\LI

--'lO"

u:FT
S.UI

RIGI1T
3.Wl
III:AD

PATRICE

PATRICI

DRILL
Dr II I-A

DRILL
Drill-f

TOE SPA<
---b.9--

TOE sr,
----b.9-

C-SETUP
_ C-OVRCf.
C-STOPE
C-REF-L

C-SEnJl
C-QVRC'
C-STOPI
C-REF-I
A-TRI"
InPERIl

Lome I"

1I-2IDI

lTD Close to Left 1lINl11. Cent

[This has been s e t as your rer er-ence I lne I

[F1'-ee to

Co r-~ I'ln d

lTD close to right

'.:> Ye

IItOUC]

~11.

Cant rolotelt

(Pick posltlon of Se t up ]?

FIGURE 5. The "drill setup" command, showing the scaled drill being
positioned in the drift and the "distance to reference line" display.

LAYOUT
HIl1U

FIGURE 7. The " parallel holes" command, showing the image of five
holes being interactively positioned, using the mouse.

'l82S.8S1S .8S5I> . 3'!BB

. ; " . - - - - ---1-- - - - - - - - - - - - ----1

LAYlllT
IlElJ

SAVE
READ
PATRICE

READ
PATRICE

DRILL
Drill-A

DRILL
Drill-A

SAVE

TOE SPA<

TOE SPA(

- b .&--

- & .8-

C-SEnJp
C-oVRCT,
C-STOPE,
C-REF-Lo

C-SEnJP'
C-DVRCT
C-STOPE
C-J1EF-L

II-TRIH '
IHPERIAJ
LOOKIHG
II-ZOlI1'

t<.'"

U=;,

II-TRIH \
IHPERIAl
LOOKIHG
II-ZOlI1 \

(!'ress neuse Right button to stop]

(Endpoint of hole
17

FIGURE 6. The "drill hole" command showing the tools used to position blastholes.

FIGURE 8. The "fit hole" command, showing different hole spacings at

the top and the bottom of the stope.

this program that has been developed at NTC and installed at

Noranda mine sites for the past two years. Once the blasts have
been laid out using the tools provided in LAYOUT, the program
automatically calculates all requested drilling and blasting
parameters, such as hole length, dip, azimuth, tons per unit length
drilled, tons in a blast, volumes of muck, etc. It handles both metric
and imperial units. It also produced the drilling and blasting letters
(customized for each site), incorporating both drawing and text.
As seen in the LAYOUT menu (Fig. 4), the first listed command is the "drill setup" command. This function allows the setup of individual driIl positions from which blastholes will later be
drilled. Figure 5 shows this command in action. It automatically
searches for the limits of the drift and for the driIl size (each mine
is equipped with a customized database containing pertinent
parameters on all their production drills). A sketch showing the drill
(in its true scaled size) within the drift appears. The distance between the drill and the "Reference Line" is continuously shown
at the top of the screen and changes as the drill is moved (here
the motion is locked horizontally) by moving the mouse.
The drill automatically follows the floor irregularities and cannot be dragged outside the drift boundaries. Once at the desired
location, pressing the "enter" button of the mouse causes a cross
indicating the setup location (with its name or number on top) to
be inserted at this point. All these drill setups are "block" entities
containing information later used to create the drilling and blast-

ing letters. Each driIl setup location may be positioned this way.
The second command of the LAYOUT menu is the "drill hole"
command. Figure 6 shows this command being used.
This command is used to layout a single hole from an existing
drill setup. To use this command, the designer must first choose
from which drill setup the blasthole will be drilled. The layout of
the hole itself is a mouse-driven interactive operation. The length
and dip of the hole are continuously displayed on the top of the
screen while the toe (bottom) of the hole is moved with the computer mouse. During layout, the toe of the hole is fitted with a
"T" -shaped perpendicular end (which moves along with the end
of the hole). This inverted "T" represents the present toe spacing
and is a visual drafting aid designed to help in positioning holes
with respect to one another. Once a hole has been positioned in
this manner, the operation is repeated for the next one. This method
of laying out holes one by one is mostly used for fanned designs,
where many holes are drilled from just 'a few drill setups.
Different mines will, of course, have different orebody shapes.
Configurations are wider and more suitable to the use of parallel
blastholes. The "paraDeI boles" command is a tool which has been
developed to address this situation, allowing the positioning of many
setups and parallel holes in a single mouse-driven operation. This
routine automatically inserts as many holes as possible within the
draft width, based on the chosen hole spacing. In this first step,
all holes appear vertically. The holes are then positioned to their

elM BULLETIN , FEBRUARY 1993

65

BLASTCAD - NORANDA'S THREE-DIMENSIONAL COMPUTER-AWED DESIGN SYSTEM

COMPUTER APPLICATIONS

10168 . 'l287 ,1I36G. 8155

1278$E

!lULLING
~D1P ....

REMARK

LEnER
IIDtU

1-11117'

( ALL

1 -jjl 36'
3 -~I H'

81J\St-L

SEeTll
-;"!~~~~'=---:'!.!!~....'!!!!o!.1:.!!...~~~iU!i~IIIIIIIIIIII~~~

Drill Setup

I -Sll lb'
S -SSI l5'

-)

Looking

:=....

VEST

~ .--

All
Draw Ouercut
Draw Stope
Draw Ref-Line
Dnll Elclt-Line

SffiLE

1"=1$'

HOLE
SEtUP

urn,
"00

ERASE
PLACE
~~~ ,-~ ~~.

ACnJAL-l

,ijbD"

D"E

orr-SEt

Letter>

REF-LIK

'( ~

ItOlJE ItJl
BREAK-t

Ulcu D4te.

PAPER
0.5x11

, -511 41'
1 -511 41'
REMARKS'

llDIl

Drill Hole
Cable-Bolt
Fit Holes
I'ara.llcl Halc>
Loa.d Explosiu>
ti.. lng>

PUlnER
PJ-plot

KDDlrv

LUIE-DS1

nnr
Co'*Ond:

tEnter D.at.c < )'(

tEnter ri Ie oulllber17

nEI'IJ C(ltTROL>

eo-.od :

Co.-and:

FIGURE 9. Example of a drilling layout where the "fit hole", "parallel

holes" and "drill hole" commands have been used.

final location using the mouse, either in the "drag" mode (moving
the mouse will move all the holes left or right) or in the "rotate"
mode (the mouse then rotates all the holes around their virtual drill
setups). Final adjustments are made by toggling between the "drag"
and "rotate" modes. Figure 7 shows the "parallel holes" command
in action.
The top side of the screen continuously displays the selected
mouse mode (dragging or rotating), the angle of the holes, and the
distance to the left and right drift walls.
In order to increase the speed and precision of this tool, the
screen has been split into three areas for the mouse. Using the mouse
in the top portion of the screen moves or rotates the holes quickly,
operating in the middle area reduces the increment, and working
in the bottom part of the screen allows for precise hole movements
and final adjustments. Once the set of holes is at the desired position, pressing the enter key automatically inserts the holes and all
their respective drill setup locations. When applicable, this method
of laying out a number of holes at once has the advantage of allowing for a preview of the whole picture.
Two other tools are available to insert parallel holes and their
drill setups. One inserts a parallel hole at a given distance away
from a line created by the user (by simply picking a pair of points).
This tool is useful in cases where a hole has to be positioned at
a given distance from a wall, for breakage control or dilution reduction purposes. The other method is quite similar: the program inserts
the hole at a chosen distance from (and parallel to) a selected existing hole. This procedure is useful to add parallel holes to existing
ones.
In some orebody configurations, the width at the top of the
stope is different from the one at the bottom. The "fit hole" command has been developed for these cases; Figure 8 illustrates this
tool. It allows for the simultaneous insertion of a number of holes
and their respective drill setups, maintaining equal spacing between
the holes both at the top and at the bottom of the stope, with these
spacings being different and adjusted according to the stope width
at both locations .
The commands described so far in this paper were developed
to address particular orebody shapes; actual stope geometries often
require the use of a combination of these tools. Figure 9 is an
example of a configuration where setups and holes were laid out
using such a combination of tools.
The "modify" group of commands is used when it is necessary to modify a blasting layout. Holes and/or setups can be removed, holes can be moved, trimmed or extended, and commands
66

FIGURE 10. Example of a "drilling letter".

making holes break through, offset, longer or shorter are also

available.
After all holes have been laid out, the information necessary
to produce the drilling letter is within the database and available.
In the "drilling letter" command the production of this document
has been automated, but maintained flexible. Figure IO is an example
of a drilling letter. This figure also shows the side sub-menu appearing in the drilling letter mode.
Before actually generating the letter, the proper paper size, scale
and printer must be selected (each operation has its own customized
bank of available printers and paper sizes). These parameters are
all mouse-selected. Once everything has been set, clicking the "drill
letter" command produces the letter on the screen; it can now be
printed or plotted using the "plot" command on the side sub-menu.
An exact representation of what is displayed on the screen
(graphics and text) will be printed on paper, for use by the underground drilling crews.
The routines used to produce the drilling letter are the same
at every site. Customization of certain aspects (such as the text portion of the letter, with the appropriate logo, or the format in which
the information is displayed) is possible. This allows for the easy
adaptation of this function to every mine. Once all the blastholes
have been positioned, the next step of the process is to design the
loading of the explosives and the blast sequence.
The explosives layout - Each mine site has its own customized explosives database, containing all the explosive products available
on site, as well as their associated specifications (density, RWS, etc.).
There are two ways to layout explosive charges: by "column"
or by "deck". To insert explosives, regardless of the method, the
first step is to select the suitable product. This is done, using the
mouse, with the side sub-menu where lists of explosives are displayed. (Fig. 11).
To insert a column of explosives in a blasthole, the user must
first set the collar and toe stemming lengths (where no explosives
will be present, respectively at the top and at the bottom of the
hole) on the side sub-menu. Clicking the "column" command, and
then clocking all the holes in which the specified explosive column
must be inserted, automatically loads all these holes accordingly.
Any charge decoupling ratio can be used with this command.
The "deck" command is used to layout multiple explosive
charges ("decks") in single holes or to load holes differently. To
do this, a hole first has to be selected. A mouse-driven sliding bar
(perpendicular to the selectedhole and going up and down its length)
is then used to locate the beginning of the charge (the distance from
this bar to the drift boundary is continuously displayed on the upper
VOLUME 86. No. 967

COMPUTER APPLICATIONS

BLASTCAD -

NORANDA'S THREE-DIMENSIONAL COI'v1PUTER-AlDED DESIGN SYSTEM

'1815 . 9178.8SIB .95'J5

'lB1l.Z1B1.8S1S .12bb

EXPLOSH
nDfJ
( LOAll :

...

1=;=

ElQ'LOSI

SERlE:;
IOID. )

EXl'LOSIi
MFIJ

FERlOI
1

UlAD-DEI

-1 .31- alLlAR
--19 .1r
TOE
--S.Ir-

DELAY

1-'
SCATTEI
b.aa-/.

ERASE
ERASE

L ,- '
e-"':

rmtJ ClRlTJOL>
C<-nd :

Se leet objects:
[Capping Exploslue(s)l.[okl
eo-ond:

FIGURE 11. Blast design containing explosives laid out using both Ihe
"column" and "deck" commands.

FIGURE 12. Blasting layout with detonators inserted in Ihe explosive

charges.

part of the screen). Clicking the left button of the mouse sets the
beginning of the charge; at this point, a second sliding bar replaces
the first one; this one is used to position the bottom of the charge
(it can only move past the first point). This time, the screen display
shows the position of this second sliding bar with respect to the
beginning of the deck. Pressing the left button of the mouse inserts
the deck. Figure II shows a blast design containing explosives.
There is no limitation on the number of decks available per hole,
and any combination of different explosives (colour-coded) is permitted within each hole. Also, different charge decoupling ratios
may be used for each deck.

been made to keep the action of each command as visual as possible. Also, animation has been used whenever possible to move
or position objects on the screen.
Th e program keeps track of last entries as well. For example,
counters are used to name drill setups and blastholes automatically;
based on last entries they generate the next names to suggest as
defaults. As the user goes through the process of designing the blast,
the variables are set up at the same time. The program keeps track
of those, and automatically uses the last entry as the default. This
way, the next time a user enters the program, the suggested default
values remain consistent with the ones used during the last session.
Usually, operations will have more than one person designing
drilling and blasting layouts. Different designers may be working
on different stopes and use different default values and setups. The
mine may also have many computers accessing BLASTCAD
through a network. This shared use of the program first created
conflicts in global variables. In order to remedy this situation, each
network user now has his own personal database within
BLASTCAD. When a user starts the program, he/ she can click
the default box on the side menu until his/her name appears; from
then on, all his user defaults are restored.

The detonators layout - As per the drilling equipment and the explosiveproducts, each site has its own database of available detonators, or "caps" . This database, the "capping" procedure, contains
the available series of detonators (Long-Period, Short -Period Constadet, etc.), as well a the available detonator numbers within these
series, and also their associated delays in milliseconds. Before laying out a detonator, it has to be selected from the side sub-menu.
Figure 12 shows this side sub-menu, along with a blasting layout
with caps already inserted. In selecting a particular cap, the user
must first choose the right detonator series, then the wanted period.
The associated delay (in milliseconds) will automatically appear at
the bottom of the side sub-menu. Clicking the "cap" command
and then an explosive charge will inset the selected cap in this charge.
Each series of detonators is graphically represented using a different symbol; the period number itself is displayed in the centre of
this symbol.
Once the explosives and the detonators have been laid out , all
is in place to produce the blasting letter, which the underground
blasting crews will use to implement the design. The blasting letter
is produced using the "blast letter" command . The procedures are
similar as the ones described earlier for the drilling letter.

General Approach
. The app roach of the BLASTCAD system in general (and that
of the LAYOUT programs in particular) is to use the computer
to help (not replace) the blasting engineer or technician in his/her
daily work. One of the great challenges of developing specialized
engineering software is to adapt the program to the use, not the
other way around.
In developing BLASTCAD, efforts have been put into the use
of blasting technical language familiar to the user. Also, there are
no computer commands to type: everything is mouse-driven, and
all commands are launched from menus. Considerable effort has

The Advantages of the System

The BLASTCAD system offers many advantages. Most users
like the program and would not go back to produ cing their blast
designs manually . This is quite an achievement, considering the
youth of the program.
One of the advantages of the system is the economy of time
in producin g drilling and blasting letters. It has been conservatively
estimated by some Noranda mines using the system that over-all
reductions of up to 700/0 of the time required to produce these letters
were achieved using the LAYOUT functions . If a blast designer
is overloaded with work, this system can certainly help. These time
savings can be used to improve engineered blasts, for example by
using computer models or performing near-field blast vibration
monitoring.
The improvement quality of the letters produced is another advantage. Blast designs produced by hand are often done in a hurry;
instructions and numbers can become quite illegible, and lead to
confusion or errors underground.
BLASTCAD also allows all calculations to be error-free. The
calculation possibilities offered by the computer have caused the
re-thinking of the content of the drilling and blasting letters. Total
hole length, volume of rock in the blast, tonn age of rock, quanti-

COMPUTER APPLICATIONS

BLASTCAD -

NORANDA'S THREE-DIMENSIONAL COMPUTER-AJDED DESIGN SYSTEM

ties of explosives used, powder factors, etc. are all useful figures
when it come to evaluating a blast design. The efforts involved to
calculate them by hand could discourage their use. All these values
have now been added to the drilling and blasting letters and are
automatically produced with each output.
The method of making last minute changes quickly and easily
is also a big advantage. Once a blast design is produced or altered,
the program can generate the letters and calculate all the parameters
of these documents in less than a minute. When working by hand,
any change in the design means most measurements and calculations must be redone manually, as well as the letter itself.
Ironically, the biggest potential advantage is quite invisible to
the user. By designing their blasts with the LAYOUT functions,
engineers and technicians, without realizing it, create a complete
database of all the drilling and blasting parameters that are needed
to run the computer blast models available at Noranda Technology Centre, and mentioned in the introduction of this paper. The
creation of this blasting database is done continuously. Each time
a feature is added to the design, it is added to the database, eliminating the need to "compile" a design when it is finished to update
the datase.

tions and push holes as much as 20% or more from their plarined
location).
Although work is under way to improve hole drilling accuracy,
deviation is unlikely to be completely eliminated in the near future;
it is, thus, necessary to try to account for it. Noranda Technology
Centre is currently developing methods to survey blasthole locations. Once a satisfactory system is operational, BLASTCAD will
allow for the introduction to the system of the surveyed position
of the holes. This will permit the layout of explosives based on where
the holes actually are, rather than on where the designer thinks they
are; this will significantly improve blast layout procedures.
The Geomechanics Program at the Noranda Technology Centre
is developing a laser-based stope surveying system. It is designed
to go back into open stopes and survey their contours in true 3-D
mine coordinates. These contours represent extremely useful information when trying to assess blast damage and dilution. It will provide valuable feedback to readjust blasting parameters, such as
powder distribution or sequencing, and to better control the excavation contours.

Future Work

The BLASTCAD system has so far been installed at ten mines

within the Noranda Group, and has turned out to be an encouraging success. Blasting engineers and technicians like to use it; it
produces clear drilling and blasting letters for the underground
miners; and time savings of more than 70010 (compared with using
conventional manual layout methods) have been reported.
The program is being developed using an open architecture. This
approach, combined with Noranda's blasting database, makes
BLASTCAD a powerful platform to connect various external blasting assessment programs.
The economy of time achieved by designing the blasts and
producing the instruction letters with the system will hopefully be
used to better engineer the blasts, using the assessment models that
will be attached. It is the ultimate goal of the system to contribute
significantly to better over-all blasting practices, and to improve the
competitiveness of the operation using it.

Future work will involve the attachment to BLASTCAD of the

blast assessment programs, hole surveying packages and stope surveying softwares available or under development at Noranda Technology Centre, in the Blasting Technology and Geomechanics
programs.
All these programs will be transparently linked to BLASTCAD.
Once a design has been produced using the LAYOUT routines,
all the information needed to run these models will be in the database. Running one of the assessment programs will become as easy
as the click of its name from a menu. It is planned to have these
commands automatically gather all the necessary information from
the database, and launch their respectiveprograms. Five assessment
programs are currently scheduled for connection to BLASTCAD.
They are "BCALC" (an empirical blasting calculator written at
Noranda Technology Centre), "CPFCAD" (a powder factor
analysis program written at the Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research
Centre [JIGvlRCj in Brisbane, Australia), "SCAT" (a timing assessment program also written at the JKMRC), "BBLAST" (a blast
breakage simulator originally written under a CANMET-managed
contract), and "BCOST" (a blasting cost analysis program written
at Noranda Technology Centre) .
In the blasting process it is crucial to know exactly where the
holes are located (significant deviation may affect drilling opera-

Conclusion

Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the Noranda TechnologyCentre
for permission to publish this paper. Also, sincere thanks are extended to all the blasting personnel throughout the Noranda group
of mines who took the jump toward BLASTCAD; the feed-back
from these people played, and still is playing, a crucial role in the
development of the system.

Symposium on Complex Ores .Utilization

The Saint Petersburg Mining Institute in
Russia, in collaboration with Universite Laval
in Quebec City, Canada, are organizing an International Symposium on Complex Ores
Utilization that will be held in Saint Petersburg May 16-20, 1994. The Symposium is
sponsored by other organizations inclucting
GipronickeJ (the Russian research and production organization of nickel and cobalt), and
Varni (the Russian research and production organization of light metals). Official languages
of the conference are English and Russian.
Papers are invited on the following and
related topics:
Ore dressing of complex ores
HydrometalJurgical processes

68

PyrometalJurgical processes
ElectrometalJurgy
Simulation and automation
Waste disposal, utilization, and environment
Complex ores to be discussed are those of
copper, nickel, cobalt, tin, aluminum, magnesium, titanium, and the noble metals.
The program includes industrial and academic visits, as well as a cultural program.
Companions to delegates are welcome. Saint
Petersburg is one of the most beautiful cities
in the world, famous for its magnificentgildedtop churches, theatres, museums, outstanding
architecture and monuments, numerous
bridges and canals, Its environment is of great
historical and artistic value. In the month of

May the spring of Saint Petersburg sees temperatures of 15C to 20C.

Submit papers in Russian to: LN. Beloglazov, Saint Petersburg Mining Institute, 21
Line, dom 2, Saint Petersburg, Russia 199026;
or submit papers in English to: Fathi Habashi,
Department of Mining and Metallurgy,
Universite Laval, Quebec City, QC, Canada
GIK 7P4; Tel.: (418) 656-7269; Fax: (418)
656-5343; Telex: 051-31-621.
Dates to remember :
Abstracts due July 1, 1993
Notification of acoeptance September 1, 1993
Camera-ready manuscripts February 15, 1994

VOLUME 86, No. 967