rotary blasthole drilling

[′rōd·ə·rē ′blast‚hōl ‚dril·iŋ]

(mining engineering)

A term applied to two types of drilling: in quarrying and open pit mining it implies rotary drilling with roller-type bits, using compressed air for cuttings removal, either conventional rotary table drive or hydraulic motor to produce rotation, with hydraulic or wire-line mechanisms to add part of the weight of the drill to the weight of the tools to increase bit pressure; and in underground mining and sometimes aboveground, it implies the drilling of small-diameter blastholes with a diamond drill, using either coring or noncoring diamond bits.

References in periodicals archive ?

The 1175E is an electric-powered, self-propelled, crawler-mounted rig designed for low-pressure rotary blasthole drilling.

Sandvik's new electric rotary rig sparks productivity at Chinese mine

It can also be downloaded from the rotary blasthole drilling section on www.

Atlas Copco releases Blasthole Drilling Reference Book

In open pit mines one of the most important factors that influences the productivity of the total operation is the performance of the rotary blasthole drilling.