ShaftEntry Blasting Regulations

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Mine Opening Blasting Amendments to Chapters 77,
87, 88, 89 and 210
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Background

• Mine Opening Blasting is
• blasting to develop shafts, slopes or other
  entries to an underground mine.
• surface blasting activity until the entry reaches
  the mineral being mined.
• blasting that is close enough to the surface to
  expose the public to adverse effects such as
  flyrock, airblast (vibrations traveling through
  the air) or ground vibration.

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Background

• Public risk from flyrock is higher from the first
  2 blasts.
• Subsequent blasting (typically, another 10 to 100
  blasts) is less likely to pose a risk to the
  public from flyrock, and ground vibration levels
  should also decrease.
• Airblast levels can persist even at substantial
  depths.

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Background

• Dual enforcement duties between District Mining
  Offices (DMOs) and the Bureau of Mine Safety
  (BMS)
• created confusion that led to surface blasting
  performance standards not being applied.
• This gap in the application of the regulation,
  coupled with industry concern for consistency,
  led to the need to develop regulations.

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The Need for New Regulations

• Entry blasting is surface blasting in the surface
  mining regulations.
• Current regulations dont consider the
  differences between entry blasting and surface
  blasting.
• Those differences are significant enough to
  necessitate regulatory changes.

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Regulatory Changes

• Allow entry blasting to occur, after the first
• two blasts, any time day or night.
• This change provides for continuous development
  that is necessary to protect the workers in the
  shaft from unstable shaft walls.
• After the initial 2 blasts the blasting is being
  conducted deep enough in the ground that the risk
  to the public from flyrock is sufficiently
  diminished to safely allow for blasting after
  dark.

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Regulatory Changes

• Allow blasting within 800 feet of highways as
• long as sufficient precautions are taken.
• This change provides consistency for all blasting
  operations in Pennsylvania, with respect to the
  distance blasting is allowed to occur to
  highways.
• Typically, precautions such as better blast
  designs protect the motoring public more
  effectively than alternative methods.
• Stopping traffic on a busy highway can increase
  the risk of a serious traffic accident.

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Regulatory Changes

• Require that entry blasting be conducted by a
  person with a blasters license that is specific
  to entry blasting.
• A blasters license category for entry blasting
  will require specialized training and examination
  that focuses on both the underground and surface
  aspects of entry blasting.

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Changes Made In Response to Prior Oversight

• specify that blast records include the identity
  of the dwelling or other structure closest to the
  blasting, as well as the distance and direction.
• specify that required seismograph records must be
  attached to blast records.

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MRAB Meetings

• General agreement on many sections
• August 15, 2005
• October 27, 2005
• January 5, 2006
• However, at the January 5, 2006 meeting, the MRAB
  deadlocked on whether mine opening construction
  is a surface mining activity.

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Changes Made In Response to Comments

• A commentator observed that the use of the term
  vibration limits was unclear.
• The term has been changed to ground vibration
  and airblast limits.

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Change Made For Accuracy

• The term airblast has replaced noise or
• sound.
• The terms noise and sound indicate something
  heard by humans. Airblast often results in
  concussive, wave energy traveling through the air
  having a frequency of less than 20 Hz, which
  can't be heard by humans.
• Noise or sound are no longer used to describe
  airblast, as they do not do so accurately.

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MRAB Meetings

• The MRAB reviewed the final rulemaking at the
  January 25, 2007 meeting. It recommend
  disapproval based on the position that mine
  opening construction is not a surface mining
  activity.
• Department disagrees with this interpretation and
  recommends the Board approve this final
  rulemaking.

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DEPs Statutory Authority

• SMCRA definition of surface mining activity
• strip, auger mining, dredging, quarrying and
  leaching, and all surface activity connected with
  surface or underground mining, including, but not
  limited to, exploration, site preparation, entry,
  tunnel, drift, slope, shaft and borehole drilling
  and construction

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DEPs Perspective

• Mine opening construction occurs in proximity to
  inhabited areas.
• Department receives complaints about the effects
  of the related blasting activity during the
  construction of the entire opening (to the coal
  seam or mineral being mined).
• Applying surface mining blasting regulations to
  the construction of the entire mine opening is
  necessary because it limits airblast and ground
  vibration and prohibits the flyrock that
  potentially could result from the blasting.

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Thank You!
J. Scott Roberts Deputy Secretary, Mineral
Resources Joe Pizarchik Bureau Director, Mining
and Reclamation William Allen Division Chief,
Monitoring and Compliance Marc Roda Legal
Counsel