The cases of noxious gases emission during blasting operations using emulsion explosives at the enterprise of JSC Karelsky Okatysh are analyzed in the article. The technical and physico-chemical characteristics of the used emulsion explosive Emunex and mining and geological characteristics of the blocks on which the emission of toxic gases were monitored are presented. It is shown that the foreign normative documents focus on gas prevention, i.e. on implementation of preventive measures, taking into account the control at all the stages: from the development of explosives with low level of gas formation to the implementation of drilling and blasting operations. Based on the analysis of foreign normative documents and research of detonation processes in various explosives, the main factors affecting the release of noxious gases at the initiation of explosives are considered. Video shooting of conducted blasting operations allowed to record the cases of emission of yellow-orange gas cloud. However, the comparison of noxious gases concentration against the criteria of maximum permissible concentration showed a minor exceedance of carbon oxide concentration only. The main reasons for the formation of noxious gases for the cases under consideration are as follows: presence of induced fracturing due to previous explosions (contributes to spreading of the explosive and leads to an unsteady detonation mode), imbalance of the emulsion explosive. It is shown that monitoring of noxious gases release should be performed with the application of photo- and video recording which allow to fix the appearance of hazardous gases from various recording stations. The monitoring results are required for the development and improvement of the system for collecting information, analyzing, and investigating noxious gases emissions, tracking, and preventing them in the future.
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