ANFO, Slurry, Emulsion and Blasting Explosives

Development of ANFO, Slurry, Emulsion and Blasting Explosives 

By 1913, British coal production reached an all-time peak of 287 million tons, consuming more than 5000 tons of explosives annually and by 1917, 92% of these explosives were based on ammonium nitrate. In order to reduce the cost of explosive compositions the explosives industry added more of the cheaper compound ammonium nitrate to the formulations, but this had an unfortunate side effect of reducing the explosives waterproofness. This was a signihcant problem because mines and quarries were often wet and the holes drilled to take the explosives regularly filled with water. Chemists overcame this problem by coating the 

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