From: b-davis%cai%cs.utah.edu@ssyx.ucsc.edu (Brad Davis) Subject: Fertilizer explosives... Date: 3 Mar 90 06:20:05 GMT I talked to my father and this is what he told me. The mines add 4-6% of the NH4NO3 weight of some fuel oil, often diesel oil, unless it is an underground charge. Then they use "corvus" oil because it doesn't smell. I don't know what corvus oil really is. The mines will often use 20 trucks of 25 tons each in a single blast. That works out to 1.1 million pounds. The Navajo coal mine in New Mexico has done 4 times that when moving overburden. If you use less then 4% oil you get a partial explosion that emits a yellow or orange smoke. Greater then 6% and you get black smoke, and unburnt hydrocarbons. They try to make a 6% mix but when you are dealing with a million pounds you can't be exact. Big holes in Nevada? Try anywhere in the Mountain West. Maybe we should all meet at Navajo the next time they move overburden :-). Brad Davis