Another pathetic rebuttalthe realMcCoy's response when I first mentioned Noranda's plasma blasters here in mid August:
therealmccoy wrote:
you are both ignorant and incompetent there TT/tamaracktop/the titanic/kenny..... great call on xebec.....
tamaracktop's "DD" stands for "due didiot".... the dumb idiot TT is
"One of the highlights of the recent MINExpo in Las Vegas was Noranda's new plasma blasting technique. After seven years of research, scientists at the Noranda Technology Centre (NTC) in Pointe-Claire, Quebec, Canada have established plasma blasting as a practical and economically viable option for fracturing hard rock. Shattering a 6 t rock using less than $0.01 worth of electricity is now possible. Perhaps even more important than its economic benefits is the fact that plasma blasting is safe and environmentally friendly technology. There are no toxic fumes, no nitrates in mine water and a minimal amount of dust. Also, the technique obviates the safety hazards attendant with handling explosives.
The technology is simple: after drilling a hole in rock and injecting an electrolyte through the flushing hole, a reusable electric probe is automatically inserted into the hole. The blast occurs when pulse power from a capacitor is discharged through the probe and converts the electrolyte into a high-temperature, high-pressure plasma. This vapourisation bursts the rock.
The method can be employed in two ways: one use will be to break oversize rocks on a continuous basis, by installing the system on mobile secondary rock breakers, underground and in open pits; but its greatest potential will be for the c"ntinuous mining of hard rock, a long sought-after goal."