An Investigation into the Effect of Rain on Fragmented Coal: A Case Study

Rock Fragmentation is one of the major concerns of the mining industry, which affects the financial part of the industry quite heavily. The two unwanted outcomes of coal fragmentation that is large boulders and excessive fines can significantly decrease the loading efficiency of the machines. Many researchers have identified different parameters that impact the fragmentation of coal; however, the effect of different climatic conditions, such as rain, on the fragmentation of coal by blasting has not been studied yet. In this study, the authors have tried to analyze the effect of rain on the fragmentation of coal after blasting. For this, the authors collected photographs of basted muckpile before and after the rain. The rainfall in the region during this interval was obtained from India Meteorological Department (IMD), Mumbai. The photographs collected were analyzed by WipFrag software. The data obtained from the fragmentation analysis by the software showed that the percentage of fines and number of particles after the rain increased, whereas the mean fragment size and the max fragment size obtained after the rain decreased. The findings suggest that these changes occurred due to the effect of the rain. Knowing that the rainy season will cause more fines generation after blasting and decrease the loading efficiency of the machine, the blast design can be modified accordingly to avoid excessive fines and increase the productivity of the loading machines.