Discover the Kentucky Blasting Conference
ISEE
The 38th Annual Kentucky Blasting Conference will be held Dec. 1-2 at the Heritage Hall & Hyatt Regency Hotel in Lexington, Ky. Co-sponsored by the Bluegrass and Tristate Chapter of the International Society of Explosives Engineers, over 50 booths will be present to showcase their products and services. This conference has been approved for up to 8 hours of blaster retraining in Kentucky and other states. Always make sure to check with your state agency though for retraining credit hours. Several workshops, seminars and technical sessions will be held over the course of the conference in order to receive credit. Register now to receive advance rates. For more information, click here. More

Blasting a faster highway
Lake Country Calendar
Work on the Highway 97 realignment between Winfield and Oyama in British Columbia, Canada, is coming along as scheduled. The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure recently toured the site for local politicians and media. There has been significant blasting on the hillside to make way for the new route. An estimated fifty to sixty blasts have taken place already and hundreds more are expected before the project is completed. More

Australia closes Orica plant over chemical leaks
CBS News
Australian environment officials ordered Orica Ltd., the world's largest explosives maker, to shut down one of its plants a day after the company was charged over a gas leak that exposed a community to a cancer-causing compound. More

Why the US is giving bomb training to Thai police
Time
The homemade bomb is hidden in a bag slung over the seat of a motorbike. When it explodes, it shatters the windows of a nearby car, peppers the driver's door with shrapnel - mainly bolts and washers - and leaves the motorbike a charred and twisted wreck. "That'll make for a bad day," says Byron San Marco, a special agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). "And that was not a tremendous amount of explosive either."More

TBRL developed an electromagnetic bomb that generates electric fields and jams communication system
Day & Night News
The Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory at Ramgarh in Panchkula, India, has developed a new bomb that creates an electromagnetic field and affects all electronic items within a particular area without harming humans or buildings. At low levels, the pulse of energy temporarily disables electronics systems while at mid-range levels it corrupts computer data. More

Explosives manufacturing industry: Slow downstream demand will push manufacturers to introduce value-added packages, according to a new report
PRWeb
Over the five-year period to 2016, growth in revenue for the US Explosives Manufacturing industry is projected to remain moderate, reaching an estimated $2.3 billion by the end of the period and growing an average of 2.9 percent per year, according to IBISWorld, the nation’s largest publisher of industry research. With the exception of 2012, when revenue is expected to grow 5.1 percent, year-on-year growth rates are anticipated to be in line with those of the general economy. More

Hydro mining 'prime suspect' in Pike River explosion
New Zealand Herald News
The Department of Labor inspector who visited the Pike River Mine had no experience in hydro mining, the mining method described as a "prime suspect'' in the fatal Nov. 19 explosion. The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the disaster resumed five days out from the anniversary of the first explosion, as it starts to examine what happened underground at Pike River and in particular the role of the Department of Labor. More

Billion dollar gold and copper mine will get a second review
Journal of Commerce
Plans for the construction of a billion dollar gold and copper mine in central British Columbia, have been given a second chance by federal regulators after they rejected the original proposal last year.  More

UDOT has $22 million budgeted for snow removal
Standard-Examiner
With winter weather here, the state's snow removal team is waiting in the wings to clear it, and when they do, it will cost a pretty penny. According to figures from the Utah Department of Transportation, the state's snow removal budget is set this year at $22 million. The budget includes every piece of the snow removal outfit: equipment, salaries, sand, salt, brine and avalanche control explosives.More

Bill could put spark in Michigan fireworks sales
Detroit Free Press
It's been Michigan's not-so-well-kept summer secret for years. Some Michigan residents make annual pre-Fourth of July treks into neighboring states to buy more powerful consumer fireworks that are illegal at home. Those clandestine road trips could become unnecessary if legislation recently approved by the Michigan Legislature becomes law. A bill awaiting Gov. Rick Snyder's review would expand the types of fireworks that can be legally sold in the state without the buyers needing special permits. More

Fracking fears stir opposition
The Livingston County News
A group of concerned citizens organized last month in Hemlock, N.Y., calling itself Frack Free Genesee, has begun a campaign trumpeting what it believes are the dangers which the hydraulic fracturing method of natural gas extraction poses for Livingston County. More

Incitec profit lifts 12.8 percent to $463 million
Trading Room
Fertilizer and explosives maker Incitec Pivot has lifted annual profit by 13 percent and says 2012 will be a transition year for its Asia-Pacific explosives business. The company also said it had a positive view of the long-term outlook for global fertilizers. More

3 injured, 2 arrested as activists try to stop al-Walajeh blasting
PNN
As the Israeli prepared to blast a mountainside near the southern West Bank village of al-Walajeh to clear room for the wall, a group of Palestinian and international activists stood on the land to stop it. In their removal from the land, three activists were injured and another two arrested. More