MAQUARIE ORANGE PIPELINE. June 2014
Utility trenches, typically 900 mm wide by 1800 mm deep, are notorious for producing wild flyrock. The blasting contractor for this pipeline trench was selected on the basis of his risk assessment, which specified the use of heavy duty blasting mats. There were no occurrences of flyrock landing outside the pipeline easement, and no flyrock intrusions on either the road or the adjacent private property. The mats and staff training were supplied by Flintstone Group Australia.
Flintstone Blastmats. Size used: 2.9*2.4m weight: ~450 kg per mat. Used for blasting protection on the drill and blast for the trench for the Maquarie pipeline project , Orange NSW.
Orange is a provincial city of about 40,000 population in the Central West Region of NSW, about 250 km West of Sydney.
A 40 km pipeline is being laid from the Macquarie River to Orange to assist in drought-proofing the city. The alignment of the pipeline is on a narrow easement between the Ophir Road and the private property boundary, and all excavated material was required to be kept within the easement. The existence of power-lines and rural dwellings nearby added to the complexity.
Blasting was employed where rock was encountered, and the Contractor required the blast crew to use rubber tyre blasting mats. These were provided by Flintstone Group Australia.
The result: No rock on the road, no rock on any private property, and no damage to any power line. The blasting was successfully completed in June 2014 with no visible flyrock and no exceedances of airblast overpressure or ground vibration.
Note the Orange – Ophir Road on the left and the easement, which is just inside the private property boundary.
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WHITEY'S CARPARK. MT HOTHAM. February 2014
Contractor: Mt Hotham Resort Management Board
Winning tenderer: DropShot Drill and Blasting Services.
Project Objectives: Mount Hotham is a popular Winter skiing resort straddling the divide between North East Victoria and the Gippsland Region of Southern Victoria, and is accessed from both regions by the Great Alpine Highway, an important link through the mountains connecting Northern and Southern Victoria. A car park for visitors needed extending to increase its capacity, and this required blasting up to 4 metres of rock from the existing car park surface. Short-hole blasting is notorious for producing flyrock, and the Client had specified that no rock could be allowed to land on the Highway, and there was to be zero damage to the workshop, the street lights, any other assets, and the surrounding vegetation. The local Authority wanted the assurance provided by blast mats, and the Contractor chose rubber tyre blast mats supplied by Flintstone Group.
Result: mission accomplished in full, with zero damage and no flyrock occurrences.
48 x 2.9*2.4 Flintstone blast mats delivered on a flat bed semi. Unloaded by an excavator in bundles of 8, bound with slings that were also used to hang face mats for the last blast that was within 2 metres of workshop and machinery. Blasting mats laid over shot near street lights, trenched utilities, Plant and Equipment workshop, roadside trees, and, only 20 metres away, the Great Alpine Highway. Mats collected after a blast and laid on a section advancing towards the workshop. Mats were used on blast areas within 50 metres of the highway or the workshop, and on sections adjacent to street lights.
The outcome: No rock landed on the highway, no rocks impacted on the workshop, and there was no damage to ant street lights, other assets, or surrounding vegetation.”
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Mats supplied for use as seabed equipment pads for the GORGON Gas Project, Media to follow.
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HO MAN TIN STATION. HONG KONG.
HO MAN TIN STATION
HONG KONG
Blasting Mats imported to Australia by Flintstone Blast Mats, have been in use for over ten years in Europe and Asia.
Ho Man Tin Station is the under-construction interchange station on the Hong Kong MTR's Kwun Tong Line Extension and Sha Tin to Central Link. Blasting mats used to contain flyrock and contain the blasted rock to a workable footprint in a tight access site, with plant and machinery assetts in-situ, as the project proceeds deeper into the underground to complete the first step of the interchange station project.
THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF ONE OF MANY PROJECTS WHERE OUR BLASTING MATS HAVE BEEN USED OVERSEAS.
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