prediction of mean size distribution of blasted rock in sungun copper mine using monte carlo simulation

Prediction of rock size fragmentation due to blasting operation is one of the most important aspects in the mining industry. the purpose of this study is prediction of mean size distribution of blasted rock in sungun copper mine. for this purpose, a database from the bench blasting in various mining is accumulated and statistical analysis is carried out to propose an empirical equation for prediction of mean particle size of blasted rock. the validation of the proposed equation is tested by the real data from sungun copper mine and is shown that there is a reasonable correlation between measured and predicted rock fragmentation. then monte carlo simulation is used to predict mean size distribution of blasted rock in sungun copper mine. finally sensitivity analysis is done to evaluate the impact of operation parameters on the rock blast fragmentation. conducted analysis showed that the mean particle size of blasted rock is more than 0.414 m with a 95% probability and is less than 0.205 m with a 5% probability.