One of the great challenges of mining within this day and age is that general societal ac-ceptance of the mining sector is rather low due to factors such as the noise of detonation, the vibrations of the blasting and fly rock.
The first edition of the program focuses on the wider societal and economic acceptance of drilling and blasting and aims at educating mining engineers (postgraduates, profession-als, academic staff) on the newest innovative, tested techniques of environmentally friendly blasting. Participants will gain expertise on how to reduce noise, vibration and avoid fly rock in theory and practice and thus be able to carry out mining that is sustainable in the fu-ture.
Topics in the 2016 edition will include an intro-duction to blasting, blasting theory, fragmen-tation, blast design, the legal framework of blasting, and discuss health, safety and envi-ronmental measures.
Especially within the ESEE Region, which has a long standing tradition in the field of mining and vast natural resources, it is of upmost im-portance that mining engineers are educated with the most up to date techniques in order to access the resources available.