Post Detonation Fume Quality of Explosives Vis-A-Vis Their Contribution Towards Polluting Environment in Underground Mines

Explosives have been found to generate harmful gases, even under ideal condition of detonation. Such toxic pollutants mostly comprising of carbon monoxide and oxides of nitrogen are of serious concern particularly in case of blasting in the confined space of underground mines. While there are recommendatory norms set by DGMS for the working personnel to enter the blasted faces in underground mines in general, there is a strict control in this regard for a permitted explosive to meet the stipulated approval criteria of the DGMS. Some of the toxic fume data generated at CMRI with permitted explosives of various chemical compositions using a standard laboratory method, have been analysed in this presentation to show how fume characteristics of the recent generation explosives are much superior in respect of fume quality to the conventional NG based explosives. Analysis of the accident cases occurring in underground mines due to inhalation of post blast fumes also corroborates the same view point.