Anfo
Overview
Anfo Mixing. Ammonium nitrate is mostly known as a fertiliser used for gardening and agriculture. It’s also the main component in a commonly used explosive, utilised regularly in the mining industry.
What is the difference between ANFO and emulsion?ANFO and emulsion explosives has their respective advantages and disadvantages such as ANFO is not water resistant and emulsion is water resistant.
Because of ANFO’s stability and relatively low cost, it is still one of the most popular explosive materials in use today. Ammonium nitrate is an oxidizer, and not an explosive material in itself, and is therefore not classified as an explosive for transport purposes.
Generally mines prepare the explosives on-site using the same
diesel they would use in their vehicles. There are theoretically many fuels that can be used but the low volatility and cost of fuel oil makes it a more popular choice.
ANFO is used both in large hole diameter mining through to small hole diameter quarrying.
It can be augured or pneumatically loaded explosive.
The benefits of ANFO blasting:
- Using ANFO offers the advantage of a good coupling of the explosives and the rock,
- thereby eliminating the risk of charge discontinuity.
- This explosive, which can be reinforced with aluminum, is a high-energy explosive that provides optimal detonation performance.
Anfo-Mixers