Gassed Emulsions for Mining: Emulsifiers and Suppliers

Introduction

Gassed emulsions for mining, built around purpose-formulated underground explosive emulsifiers, are the reason most metal and non-coal underground mines have moved away from ANFO for wet or deep headings. The emulsifier is a small fraction of the formula by weight, but it is the single ingredient that decides whether the ammonium-nitrate droplets stay suspended in the oil phase for the weeks a blast pattern sits loaded, or separate and fail. This guide covers the composition, the specific dosage and performance ranges published in patent literature, the market this sits inside, and how it connects to underground blast safety practice more broadly.

Every one of the underground mining explosive supplier searches that lead to this page — gassed emulsions, emulsifiers for emulsion explosive production, specialty emulsifiers, packaged and bulk explosive emulsifiers — points at the same technical question: how does the emulsifier chemistry and the gassing method change what a blast crew can safely load underground. That’s what this article answers, with sourced figures rather than generic marketing claims.

Market Scale: How Big Is This Segment

US commercial explosives consumption stood at 1.73 million metric tons in 2019, the most recent year the USGS Minerals Yearbook has published complete state- and industry-level figures for — later USGS explosives reports do not give the same state and industry detail. Of that total, coal mining accounted for 56% of US explosives sales, and a single state — Wyoming, at 25% of total US sales — dominated volume, reflecting Powder River Basin surface coal operations rather than underground hard-rock mining. Source: USGS Minerals Yearbook 2019, Explosives chapter.

None of these figures answer a question every underground procurement team eventually asks: current-year US hard-rock and underground metal-mining-specific explosives consumption. That breakout is not published — the 2019 USGS figures are the most recent with state/industry detail, and 2024-2026 volumes broken out by underground versus surface use are not in any publicly accessible source at the time of writing. If you need that number for budgeting, the path is the same one that produced the 2019 figure: the USGS Minerals Yearbook, Volume 1, Explosives chapter, published roughly 18 months after year-end at pubs.usgs.gov/myb.

How US explosives use splits by sector

The USGS Minerals Yearbook for 2019 gives the most recent split by use. Coal mining took 56% of US explosives sales, construction 18%, quarrying and nonmetal mining 15%, metal mining 9% and other uses 3%. Wyoming led with 25% of sales; Nevada, West Virginia and Indiana together took another 20%. Nevada’s share comes mostly from metal mines, including the underground gold mines on the Carlin Trend shown in the image at the top of this page.

The same table shows the total moving between 1.65 and 2.04 million metric tons a year from 2015 to 2019, with blasting agents and oxidizers (the class that includes ANFO and bulk emulsions) making up about 98% of it. The USGS data source is the Institute of Makers of Explosives. The USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 adds that ammonium nitrate is one of the main US ammonia products and that no practical substitutes for nitrogen explosives and blasting agents are known.

Core Concept & Composition of Gassed Emulsions for Mining

Gassed emulsions for mining are water-in-oil explosive matrices manufactured for underground blasting where charge stability, water resistance, and controlled sensitivity all matter more than raw energy density.

1. Emulsion Matrix: The Foundation Layer

• Core composition: a continuous oil (hydrocarbon fuel) phase with a dispersed aqueous oxidizer-salt phase, held as a viscous water-in-oil emulsion.
• Emulsifier function: the emulsifier sits at the oil-water interface and prevents the two phases from separating over the shelf life of the product — this is the layer most of the target search terms on this page are asking about directly.
• Water resistance: because the oxidizer is locked inside water droplets surrounded by oil, gassed emulsions resist water ingress far better than ANFO, which is why they’re the default choice for damp or actively seeping underground headings.

2. Oxidizers and Sensitizers: Ignition & Energy Control

• Oxidizer system: ammonium nitrate is the primary oxidizer, frequently blended with sodium nitrate or calcium nitrate to hold performance across a wider temperature and water-content range.
• Sensitizer system: gas bubbles (see below) are the primary sensitizing mechanism in a gassed emulsion — this is what separates “gassed” emulsions from chemically sensitized or solid-sensitized (microballoon) emulsion variants.

3. Gassing: Deliberate Introduction of Gas Bubbles

• What is gassing: the deliberate introduction of gas bubbles — generated in-hole by a chemical gassing agent reacting with the emulsion, most commonly a nitrite-based agent activated by an accelerator such as zinc nitrate — into the emulsion after it is pumped into the borehole.
• How it works: the gas bubbles lower bulk density, reduce frictional and impact sensitivity relative to an ungassed matrix, and create the hot spots the column needs to detonate reliably from its primer.
• Why it matters: gassing lets a blast crew tune density, and therefore energy per hole, at the loading stage rather than at the manufacturing plant — critical when borehole diameter, rock competency, and water conditions change hole to hole in the same heading.

What Explosive Emulsifiers Actually Do

This is the term at the center of most of the searches this page targets — emulsifiers for emulsion explosive production, specialty emulsifiers for explosives, emulsifier for emulsion explosives manufacturer. The emulsifier is a surfactant, typically a polyisobutylene succinic anhydride (PIBSA)-derivative or sorbitan-ester chemistry, dosed to hold the water-in-oil structure together against heat, pressure, and time.

Two dosage ranges recur across explosive-emulsifier patent literature: a broad working range of 0.5-3% of formulation weight, and a preferred, tighter range of 1-2% for most commercial packaged and bulk formulations, per US Patent 6855219B2. Underdosing risks phase separation before the charge is even loaded; overdosing adds cost without a proportional stability gain, and can interfere with the gassing reaction itself. Commercial emulsifier chemistries such as Clariant’s ARKOMON® line are formulated specifically around PIBSA-based structures to hit water-resistance and shelf-stability targets while staying inside that dosage band — International Mining coverage of ARKOMON emulsifiers covers the commercial formulation side in more detail than patent filings typically do.

“Specialty” emulsifiers — the term behind one of this page’s target queries — generally refers to formulations engineered for a specific failure mode: extended shelf life at high ambient temperature, compatibility with a particular gassing chemistry, or performance in high-water-content ore bodies. There’s no single industry-standard specialty-emulsifier spec; what changes between suppliers is the surfactant backbone and the co-additive package, and that’s a formulation detail suppliers publish in technical data sheets rather than public research, so the right move for procurement is to request the TDS and third-party water-resistance test data directly from the supplier rather than relying on marketing copy.

What a real emulsion recipe looks like

The test runs in US Patent 6855219B2 (filed 2002 by ETI Holdings, granted 2005, now expired) list full recipes. Run 1, for example, used 76.3% ammonium nitrate, 16.9% water, 5.2% diesel and 1.4% PIBSA-based emulsifier. Lower-water runs used about 82.8% ammonium nitrate, 10.5% water, 5.5% oil and 0.9% emulsifier. The oxidizer is almost the whole mass; the emulsifier is about one part in a hundred, yet it decides how long the product stays stable after loading (its “sleep time”).

Clariant described its ARKOMON emulsifiers as PIBSA (polyisobutylene succinic anhydride) derivatives and sorbitan esters, and noted that the choice of emulsifier changes the rate of chemical gassing and the emulsion’s viscosity during storage (International Mining, 2012). That is why the emulsifier and the gassing solution should be tested together, not bought as separate parts.

Gassing Chemistry: Speed, Dosage, and Cold-Weather Handling

The gassing solution — the chemical agent that generates bubbles once pumped into the emulsion matrix — has its own dosage and performance envelope, distinct from the emulsifier’s. Per US Patent 6855219B2, the optimal gassing solution application rate sits at 0.4-0.6% of formulation weight. Below that range, gassing is incomplete or slow; above it, excess gassing agent can over-sensitize the column or waste material without a further density benefit.

Gassing speed is temperature-dependent, which is the main reason underground sites in different climates run different accelerator packages. Using a zinc-nitrate-based accelerator against an uncatalyzed control, the same patent’s lab testing recorded an 18-fold improvement in gassing speed at +20°C and a 36-fold improvement at +28°C. The two figures come from different test pairs, so they show that zinc nitrate speeds gassing at both temperatures, not an exact trend with heat. On the cold end, adding zinc nitrate (15% w/w, with 15% sodium nitrite) lowered the gassing solution’s freezing point from about -6°C to about -20°C, so the solution can be used in colder conditions without heating the gassing system. Note that this is the gassing solution, not the finished emulsion.

This is the technical core behind the “gassed emulsions for mining” and “gassed emulsion explosive suppliers” queries this page targets: gassing chemistry, not the base emulsion recipe, is what a supplier is actually differentiating on when they claim faster loading cycles or better hot-hole performance.

Advantages of Gassed Emulsions for Underground Applications

Gassed emulsions are the standard choice underground because they solve five problems ANFO and dry-loaded products don’t:

• Water resistance: the water-in-oil matrix physically isolates the oxidizer from ambient water, unlike ANFO which dissolves and loses performance in wet holes.
• Density control at the point of loading: gassing lets a crew set density in-hole, matching energy output to rock competency hole by hole rather than committing to one plant-set formulation.
• Reduced accidental-initiation risk: the matrix is not sensitised until it is gassed in the hole, which keeps it less sensitive to shock, friction and impact during transport, mixing and pumping.
• Column stability in confined, irregular boreholes: the emulsion holds its structure in narrow or off-axis holes where a dry product can bridge or segregate.
• Lower overbreak and flyrock: controlled gas volume tunes energy distribution to the rock rather than over-delivering brisance everywhere.

More Benefits:

• Faster mucking and backfill cycles from more predictable fragmentation
• Reduced dust and vibration relative to legacy dry-blasting agents
• Bulk-pumpable formats reduce manual handling versus packaged cartridge product on long rounds

Underground Mining Explosive Suppliers: What to Screen For

Anyone searching for an underground mining explosive supplier or a gassed emulsion explosive supplier is usually evaluating one of three purchase types: bulk emulsion delivered and pumped on-site, packaged/cartridge emulsion for smaller or specialty headings, or the emulsifier and gassing-agent additive package sold separately to a mine that blends its own emulsion. The right supplier depends on which of these you’re buying.

Whichever category applies, ask for the same three things every time: a current technical data sheet with emulsifier dosage and gassing-solution application rate, third-party or in-house water-resistance and cold-weather performance data (freezing point, gassing time at your site’s ambient range), and batch traceability documentation — this last one is a US regulatory expectation for explosives handling generally, not a supplier nicety.

Gassed emulsion explosive suppliers to know

These are large commercial explosives makers that sell bulk and packaged emulsions to mines. The list uses public company pages and the USGS 2019 list of US explosives producers; it is not a ranking and not an endorsement.

• Orica Limited (ASX: ORI): Melbourne-based, formerly ICI Australia, and one of the world’s largest makers of commercial explosives and blasting systems (company profile). Orica USA Inc. is on the USGS list of US producers.
• Dyno Nobel (ASX: DNL): the company formerly called Incitec Pivot, now trading under the Dyno Nobel name; its site describes bulk emulsion systems for metals, coal and quarry customers (Dyno Nobel).
• Austin Powder Co.: a privately held US explosives maker on the USGS producer list (Austin Powder).
• Maxam North America, Inc.: the US arm of Spain’s Maxam, also on the USGS producer list.

For a self-blend plant, the emulsifier itself usually comes from specialty chemical makers (PIBSA chemistry), and the gassing solution is often made on site from sodium nitrite and an accelerator. Whoever you buy from, compare offers on the same basis: emulsifier type and dose, gassing-solution rate, gassing time at your rock temperature, water resistance and sleep time.

Key Performance Considerations for Underground Explosive Emulsifiers

1. Gas volume & bubble size: fine, uniform microbubbles produce repeatable detonation and even energy distribution; the 0.4-0.6% gassing-solution application rate cited above is the starting point for tuning this, not a fixed universal setting.
2. Sensitivity & initiation: the gassed column must detonate reliably from its primer or booster without becoming sensitive to incidental shock or friction during mixing and pumping.
3. Fragmentation vs. burden: explosive weight and borehole burden must match rock-mass strength and bedding to hit target fragmentation without excess flyrock.
4. Temperature stability: the emulsifier dosage (1-2% preferred) and gassing-agent chemistry both need validation across the actual temperature range the product will see, from cold surface storage to a hot underground face — the gassing-solution freezing point and the gassing-time figures above are the kind of spec sheet numbers to request from any supplier bidding your site.

Operational Considerations for Gassed Emulsions Underground

A. Mixing and Loading

• Emulsion formulations must be compatible with the mine’s mixing trucks or fixed underground loading systems — confirm this against the supplier’s TDS before the first bulk delivery, not after a failed load.
• Equipment calibration prevents bubble collapse or microbubble coalescence during high-pressure pumping.
• Consistent gas distribution during mixing is what keeps a low-density, high-energy column stable inside each blast hole.

B. Safety and Handling Protocols

• Storage temperature must stay inside the tolerance range for the chosen formulation — the -20°C freezing-point figure above is one documented reference point, and every supplier TDS should state its own product’s range.
• Crew training must cover instability recognition, correct initiation sequencing, and emergency shutdown procedures.

C. Environmental & Rock Mass Effects

• Fragmentation pattern governs mucking efficiency, backfill compaction, and stope cycle time.
• Selecting gassing rate to match rock mass reduces secondary blasting needs and controls dust and vibration near sensitive infrastructure.

D. Quality Control & Regulatory Compliance

1. Routine on-site sampling for density, viscosity, and gas content verifies batch-to-batch consistency.
2. Documentation of formulation details and blast logs is required for traceability under US explosives-handling regulation. Specific technical dosage or performance standards for emulsifiers under ATF or MSHA rules are not consolidated in a single public web source — the applicable requirements sit inside Title 27 CFR and MSHA guidance documents, and a compliance officer or your explosives supplier’s regulatory contact is the right first call to confirm current requirements for your site.

Which US rules apply underground

In US metal and nonmetal mines, explosives storage, transport and use fall under 30 CFR Part 57, Subpart E (sections 57.6000 to 57.6960). It covers magazine and underground storage, blasthole checks, primer protection, misfire waiting periods and site security during loading (eCFR, 30 CFR Part 57). Licensing, magazine construction and record keeping for explosive materials are set by ATF under 27 CFR Part 555 (eCFR, 27 CFR Part 555). The US Bureau of Reclamation field manual notes that in wet holes an emulsion, water gel, slurry or gelatin dynamite should be used instead of ANFO (USBR Engineering Geology Field Manual, ch. 19).

Comparative Table: Emulsifier Classes for Underground Use

This compares emulsifier and gassing-agent parameters by function rather than by brand name — the specific dosage and rate figures come from published patent literature (US 6855219B2) rather than manufacturer marketing claims, so treat this as a screening reference for supplier TDS conversations rather than a finished product spec.

Emulsifier Dosage & Gassing Cost Calculator

Enter your batch size and target dosage percentages to estimate emulsifier and gassing-agent quantity and material cost per batch, using the 0.5-3% and 0.4-0.6% ranges cited above as your starting guide.

Assumes flat per-kg pricing you enter yourself and does not include labor, plant overhead, or ANFO/other explosive components — it estimates additive material cost only. Emulsifier and gassing-agent unit prices vary by supplier and are not published in market research summaries; enter your own quoted rates for an accurate figure.

Farmonaut: Smarter Targeting Before You Blast

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Frequently Asked Questions: Gassed Emulsions for Mining

Who supplies gassed emulsion explosives?

Large suppliers include Orica (ASX: ORI), Dyno Nobel (ASX: DNL), Austin Powder and Maxam. The 2019 USGS yearbook lists their US units among domestic explosives producers. Most supply bulk emulsion through mobile manufacturing units and packaged product for smaller headings.

Which emulsifier is used in emulsion explosives?

Most commercial emulsifiers are PIBSA (polyisobutylene succinic anhydride) derivatives, often blended with sorbitan esters such as sorbitan monooleate (SMO). The patent test recipes used PIBSA-based emulsifier at about 0.9-1.4% of the emulsion.

What is the difference between bulk and packaged emulsion?

Bulk emulsion is pumped from a truck or underground loader and gassed in the hole. Packaged emulsion comes in cartridges, already sensitised, and suits small headings, development drives and sites without bulk equipment.

Does zinc nitrate change the freezing point of the gassing solution?

Yes. In US Patent 6855219B2, a solution of 15% sodium nitrite froze at about -6°C; adding 15% zinc nitrate lowered that to about -20°C.

Conclusion: Gassed Emulsions and What to Check Next

Gassed emulsions for mining, built on properly dosed underground explosive emulsifiers, remain the standard for wet, deep, or irregular underground headings because the emulsifier-plus-gassing-agent system delivers water resistance, in-hole density control, and in-hole sensitising in one product. The numbers worth carrying forward: 1-2% preferred emulsifier dosage, 0.4-0.6% gassing-solution rate, and gassing-speed gains as large as 36-fold with an accelerated formulation at +28°C — all sourced to US Patent 6855219B2 above.

• Durable checklist: request dosage data, water-resistance TDS, and batch traceability documentation from any supplier before committing to bulk or self-blend supply.
• Refresh path: US-specific consumption volumes update via the USGS Minerals Yearbook Explosives chapter roughly 18 months after year-end; market-size figures update via the industry reports cited throughout this piece.
• Pair blast chemistry decisions with better pre-drill targeting to cut the number of holes drilled on ground that doesn’t pay off.

Ready to pair sharper mineral targeting with your blasting program?

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