About our Mining
Ballarat Gold Mine is a modern underground mine. It operates deep beneath the city’s buildings, streets and homes, and although its extensive network of tunnels are busy with daily activity, the entire structure is invisible to all but those who know.
What is blasting?
Blasting is necessary for the Ballarat Gold Mine to operate beneath Ballarat. It involves the controlled use of explosives to break the rock and enable the recovery of the ore. At Ballarat a process of drilling and blasting is used where:
- A number of holes are drilled into the rock, which are then filled with explosives.
- The explosives are detonated (these are referred to as firings) causing the rock to break.
- The rubble, or ore, is removed and the new tunnel surface is reinforced.
The production (stope) blasts may be noticed on the surface. If you do notice them, Ballarat Gold Mine would like to know as this assists us in improving our practices.
If you would like to monitor the blasts at your home, there is a report chart opposite you can use to keep records and submit to us at any time.
If you would like to receive email updates or register for SMS alerts for blasting simply click on this button below and fill in the form online.
Over recent months, our mining operations and blast vibrations have been impacting on our neighbours more than we would like. If this includes you, we apologise for this impact to you in your home. We want to assure you that Ballarat Gold Mine is working consciously to rectify disturbances going forward.
Our licence conditions state that the vibration limit for blasting is 10 mm/sec and that 95% of all blasts must be below 5 mm/sec. We have recently raised an internal incident report to ensure we investigate and then address additional corrective actions.
Vibration attenuation varies considerably throughout the mine, with much larger blasts than that which occurred recently having no impact on vibration at surface. We commit to continually and proactively reviewing our practices to minimise neighbour disruption such as yours in the future. We will be engaging a blasting expert to assist us to minimise blast vibrations from specific areas within the underground mine that are having a greater impact on the community.
where are we mining now?
Where we are mining changes as we move into new areas to seek gold. Many in the community are unaware that there is an active mine under the city.
Ballarat Gold Mine is committed to ensuring the community is informed on where we are currently operating underground.
The following maps illustrate where Ballarat Gold Mine plans to conduct stope firings in the second half of 2021.
The number after the area abbreviation indicates the depth of the blast.
typical firing times
DEVELOPMENT FIRINGS
7 days a week
6:45 to 7:15 am/pm
PRODUCTION STOPE FIRINGS
Monday to Friday
9am to 5pm