Project Contractors
Seymour Salmonid Society & Global Rope Access
Project Details
Rockslide in Seymour River creating a blockage hindering fish from migrating upstream – Seymour River BC – ongoing
Scope of the Project
- 50,000 cubic meter rockslide in Seymour River
- The boulders created a plug in the river that fish could not get past
- 200 ft cliffs on both sides of the river eliminated the possibility to get machinery on site
- Blast boulders using Nxburst into microwave size pieces to allow mother nature to wash away the blasted rock
Nxburst Rock Breaking Cartridges were used to blast house size boulders plugging up the Seymour River to allow fish to migrate up stream once mother nature washed away the fragmented rock. Nxburst’s non-detonating technology was the preferred choice to blast the rock protecting people in the area and assure the safety of animals while not harming the quality of water.
Which GeoBreak Products Were Recommended
Nxburst 500 gram cartridges were recommended drilling 63mm hole size to increase fragmentation and blast the rock into pieces that would allow the river to wash away the material on its own.
Expected Outcome
The expected outcome of using Nxburst was to break the boulders into microwave size pieces while controlling fly rock and mitigating environmental effects associated with commercial explosives.
Actual Outcome
More than 180 Nxburst cartridges, 50060s, have been used to blast the boulders in the river without harming the water quality and controlling fly rock within the river protecting people and animals.
Final Thoughts From The Project Contractors
The ability to have scalers trained without previous blasting experience for the use of Nxburst while being WCB compliant allowed the contractor to be able to drill and blast the boulders adding another tool to their arsenal for their rock works division. The challenging site conditions made hand drilling the only option. The 500 gram charges that were primarily used were the most economical in blasting the boulders to create the desired fragmentation while mitigating environmental effects. In conventional drill and shoot fashion, the same techniques that are applied to high explosives are applied for the use of Nxburst for this project. No magazine requirements to store Nxburst made storage requirements quite simple for the amount of product that was being shot.
