drill and blast

Ernest Henry’s bold cave reorientation boosts productivity, tames seismicity, and sets new benchmark for deep underground mine design

When mining engineer Eddy Zhang took the stage at the 2025 AusIMM Underground Operators Conference in Adelaide, he was candid about the task at hand: “Today I’ll be presenting learnings from reorientating the Ernest Henry sublevel cave.

Rainfall event triggers explosives loss, exposes critical gaps in blast design and risk protocols

A Queensland mine site has suffered a serious incident involving the loss of explosives after a significant rainfall event overwhelmed blast bench drainage systems—highlighting urgent shortcomings in drill and blast planning under extreme weather conditions.