Blast scheduled for Thursday 20 February.
It’s been standing tall since 1965 but in only a few seconds the Port Kembla Copper refinery chimney will fall in a highly technical operation on Thursday. The blast will be carried out by Precision Demolition.
The 198 metre tall stack will not collapse in a single piece upon detonation. Instead it will come down in either two or three pieces as it falls and gravity takes hold.
PKC general manager Ian Wilson said the demolition had been years in the making.
“There are explosives to blow a wedge out of the base of the stack to knock out a part of the base,” Mr Wilson said. “The stack falls in that direction. The top part can’t fall fast enough to keep up with the bottom, so it’s likely to split into two or three pieces. It will fall broadly to the north.”
Mr Wilson said 934 holes were drilled into the stack to hold the explosives.
“The explosives are like the size of a sausage,” he said.
“They are inserted into the holes and a detonator is attached and will communicate with the firing system so the charges will be detonated creating the wedge.”
The Port Kembla Copper smelter closed down in 2003 and — despite PKC’s efforts to keep the site open as a tourist attraction — an application was made to have it demolished in 2010.
This application then suffered a lengthy delay when asbestos was discovered at the site, which triggered a removal operation.
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