Big bang in a big career

I happened to be in a massive explosion in the career of the Stoilensky GOK. In order to get there, I had to perform a bunch of different formalities: get special permission from the leadership, listen to a short safety course, get a helmet and glasses, get to know the escort, into the pass of which the responsible explosion leader entered our names and, finally, overcome a few blocks -posts, where our car was braked to check documents ...

In total, two shootings were agreed - an evening-night shoot of the quarry and the explosion itself.

We arrived the day before the explosion. It was beautiful, hot and stuffy weather. The whole performance began in the evening - instead of a beautiful sunset in the sky it appeared ...

Observation deck career. I never dreamed of any beautiful sunset.

Behind us, the sky was constantly rumbling, and the quarry was continually illuminated by a giant softbox.

A strong wind rose.

Then it began to rain, and it became very cold. From each lightning wires rang suspiciously ...

A collection of several frames.

For a sense of depth and scale - in height in this career the Moscow-City complex will fit freely. And for every serpentine you can lay a six-lane road.

The final chord was perfect! Taken in one frame.

The first time I saw the moon and lightning at the same time.

Puddles.

Then we went to an old friend KU-800.

A 10-cc excavator awaiting the approach of the “turntable” - an industrial electric locomotive with 11 train dumpcars (dump trucks with a carrying capacity of 105 tons).

Smeared in clay, I reached the edge of the ledge. We did not move down to the KU-800, because without boots there was nothing to do.

Then we went to the ore transshipment point from BelAZ to wagons and rode in the cab of a 12-cc excavator.

In the morning we went to bed in order to return to the explosion by 12 o’clock.

The explosion was carried out immediately on several ledges. In the photo, the first section worked, in the second (slightly higher in the frame), wells are being blown up.

The view is closer. For each blast site, dozens of wells are drilled, each 17 meters deep. They do not explode simultaneously, but with a slight delay of a split second, so that there is no earthquake.

This time, according to the local people, "the explosion was mediocre" - only 700 tons of emulsion explosives (emulsion explosive).

Translated into a common language - "only 12 cars of explosives."

Emulsion explosive is a special industrial explosive that is not inferior to combat TNT in its effect, but is safer in every sense, including in environmental terms. This multicomponent composition becomes explosive already in the well, about an hour after being placed there using a special mixing and charging machine.