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A typical day

Start before dawn. Walk the face with the shot plan, check the drill pattern against what was actually drilled, measure every hole for depth and water. Load the powder truck, then charge the holes one by one: primer, explosive, stemming on top, all recorded. Wire or program the delays. Then the part that takes longest: clearing the area, posting guards, sounding the warning, confirming every person and machine is out. The blast itself lasts under a second. Afterward you check for misfires before anyone goes near the muck pile.