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These men just blew up 20,000 tonnes of beautiful Scottish countryside — but don’t worry, it’s their job!

8th January 2018 | By James Simpson, Area Civil Engineer, Galloway Forest District

The Galloway Forest district’s massive infrastructure of roads requires the Forestry Commission to produce 500,000 tonnes of rock every year. Drilling & blasting is one method they use to extract hard rock in locations where it is isn’t possible to dig.

Exploding 20,000 tonnes of rock in less than a second

A quarry explosion creates thousands of tonnes of rock for a new forest road.

How it’s all done

Step 1: Using a special drilling rig, an operator drills a set number of holes depending on the quantity of rock required for building a road.
Step 2: An explosive blend consisting of emulsion and ammonium nitrate is then pumped into the holes.
Step 3: The emulsion and ammonium nitrate blend is then detonated by sending a charge down the fuse lines which fractures and breaks the rock.
Step 4: The ‘as blasted’ rock is used for the base layer of new roads or it can be crushed using a stone crusher to form an appropriate surface layer for forest roads if required.

The full programme

  • Join the amazing men and women who live and work in the vast Galloway Forest, known as Scotland’s ‘Highlands in the Lowlands’ and produce 600,000 tonnes of timber a year.

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