Surface Coal Mine Cast Blast for Reclamation

Using cast blast designs in mine reclamation.

2016
Wyoming
Alpha Natural Resources

Alpha Natural Resources retained RESPEC to develop mine reclamation plans for a surface coal operation in the Powder River Basin. Part of the reclamation plan’s unique approach was to use cast blasting to throw material into the old surface mine to reduce material rehandling during the final regrade process.

RESPEC used production cast blast profiles to develop a design that would achieve greater than 60 percent cast-to-final material. Using cast blasting in reclamation helped the client reduce the bonding amount required by the governing regulatory agency.