Description
Plan, load, and detonate blasts to break rock and advance headings in underground or surface mines. Handle, transport, store, and account for explosives safely while coordinating with drilling and production to meet fragmentation, ground control, and regulatory requirements.
- • Inspect faces, benches, and headings to determine charge types and quantities and ensure compliance with site safety rules.
- • Create and tie-in blast patterns using shock tube, electronic detonators, or detonating cord to achieve designed delays.
- • Establish blast perimeters, post signage, and clear personnel and equipment before firing.
- • Load, stem, and initiate blast holes to fragment rock for excavation and ore recovery.
- • Charge boreholes with ANFO, emulsions, or dynamite; manage wet holes; and stem to confine energy.
- • Mark drill patterns, hole locations, and depths, and issue drilling instructions to crews.
- • Maintain blasting logs, shot reports, and magazine inventories in compliance with regulations.
- • Measure and verify borehole depth, diameter, and burden using tapes or gauges.
- • Prime charges and connect leads; stem with crushed rock or drill cuttings as specified.
- • Run trunklines with detonating cord and connect to mainlines per blast design.
- • Assemble boosters, primers, and detonators; place at specified depths within holes.
- • Verify blast initiation and completion using blasting machine readouts and post-blast inspections.
- • Transport, store, and secure explosives and accessories per magazine and haulage procedures.
- • Initiate shots using approved blasting machines and lockout, signal, and countdown protocols.
- • Operate explosives trucks or mine utility vehicles to deliver product to the work area.
- • Cut detonating cord or shock tube to length and attach appropriate connectors or primers.
- • Track consumption and order explosives, detonators, stemming, and accessories to maintain inventory.
- • Coordinate via radio with production, drilling, maintenance, and survey to schedule blasts and clearances.
- • Apply water-resistant products and sealing methods for wet or flooded holes.
- • Install blast mats, barricades, or curtains to control flyrock, gas, and ventilation impacts as needed.
- • Assist in designing drill-and-blast patterns to meet fragmentation, slope, and vibration targets.
- • Document geologic structures, water, and hole conditions encountered during drilling and loading.
- • Flush and clean holes; remove cuttings and check for obstructions before loading.
- • Operate or assist with jumbos, jacklegs, or bench drills to bore blast holes per plan.
- • Signal equipment operators and control traffic to keep the blast area clear.
- • Monitor vibration and airblast with seismographs and adjust designs to meet limits.
- • Conduct post-blast muckpile inspections, manage misfires, and scale loose rock for re-entry.
- • Maintain compliance with ATF, DOT, and MSHA requirements for explosives handling and transport.
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This site includes information from O*NET by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. Career Clutch has modified some of this information for student readability. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
Last reviewed: Jan 2026
