# Iron stone mine Midlands April 2010 EXPLOSIVES



## diehardlove (Apr 23, 2010)

This mine looks alot like the other mine i did but its not and was quite good apart from water up to your chest in some parts but is mainly dry,Had a shock today as was moving explosive tins around to take a pic and one was very heavy 
sorry if the pics are abit crap and the last one is blurry but wanted a pic of the water and its the only one that i got.























































a collapse 
























some sort of sorter ?

























Ammonal is an explosive made up of ammonium nitrate, trinitrotoluene, and aluminium powder.

The ammonium nitrate functions as an oxidizer and aluminium as a power enhancer. To some extent the aluminium makes it more sensitive to detonation. The use of the relatively cheap ammonium nitrate and aluminium make it a replacement for pure TNT.

The mixture can suffer because ammonium nitrate is highly hygroscopic. Ammonal burns vigorously when open to the air, but detonates when confined inside some form of casing.

The detonation velocity of ammonal is approximately 4,400 metres per second




History
From early 1915 the British Army employed ammonal for their mines during World War I, starting with the Hawthorn Ridge mine during the Battle of the Somme. Three of the mines used at the Battle of Messines which were exploded at the start of the Third Battle of Ypres contained 30,000 lbs (over 13.6 metric tons) of ammonal, a fourth contained 20,000 lbs (over 9 metric tons). Ammonal used for military mining purposes was generally contained within metal cans or rubberised bags to prevent moisture ingress problems.

Not all of the mines that had been laid at Messines were detonated. Two of the original 21 mines were not ignited because they were outside the area of the offensive. On 17 July 1955, a lightning strike set off one of the remaining mines. There were no human casualties, but one cow was killed. The 21st mine is believed to have been found[1], but no attempt has been made to remove it. It is possible that the one unexploded mine was dismantled, because German tunnellers were coming too close to the chamber.

Ammonal remains in use as an industrial explosive. Typically, it is used for quarrying or mining purposes.

Proportions


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## RichardB (Apr 24, 2010)

Another good one. Two of your pictures weren't showing so I fixed them.


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## klempner69 (Apr 24, 2010)

Nice one fella...you sure are busy these days!!


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## TK421 (Apr 24, 2010)

Great to find all of them tins, I bet you were glad they were empty mate! Nice explore.


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## diehardlove (Apr 24, 2010)

TK421 said:


> Great to find all of them tins, I bet you were glad they were empty mate! Nice explore.



cheers for all the nice words fellas and cheers for fixing my pics its apreciated,a few still had stuff in


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## borntobemild (Apr 24, 2010)

thanks for posting DHL.

You deserve a medal for bravery imo.


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## chris (Apr 24, 2010)

Really interesting report. Is the red liquid from the iron rather than old Ammonal?


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## diehardlove (Apr 24, 2010)

chris said:


> Really interesting report. Is the red liquid from the iron rather than old Ammonal?



yeah thats right mate,its iron pigment leeching from the mine,ammonal is silver coloured from the aluminum i it.


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## Coal Cutter (Apr 26, 2010)

Wouldnt worry about the Ammon. Needs a hell of a shock to make it bang. I have done a bit of testing on it myself. Now if it had been good old dynamite and you moved it, that would have been great fun
Thats why I am religious about never touching any artefacts in mines cos apart from the risk of breaking old fragile stuff it may explode and kill you!


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## diehardlove (Apr 26, 2010)

Coal Cutter said:


> Wouldnt worry about the Ammon. Needs a hell of a shock to make it bang. I have done a bit of testing on it myself. Now if it had been good old dynamite and you moved it, that would have been great fun
> Thats why I am religious about never touching any artefacts in mines cos apart from the risk of breaking old fragile stuff it may explode and kill you!



its not the fresh ammo thats bothers me but over time the nitro from the nitric acid nitration of the compound
leeches out into the metal and can note can cause very unstable salts that can go off with the slightest touch,amonnium nitrate takes on water so is not a problem and alu just makes the reaction quicker its the trinitrotoluene thats the issue,Im a pyro mate have been for years


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