A mudcap is a secondary blasting technique where high explosives are placed directly onto the surface of a large rock and covered with a thick mound of wet mud or clay. The heavy mud confines the blast energy just enough to direct the shockwave downward, shattering the boulder without the need to drill a borehole. It is a fast way to clear oversized rocks that block crushers or haul roads, though it creates excessive noise and airblast.
Heard on the job
That boulder is too big to fit through the grizzly, so we'll have to put a mudcap on it at the end of the shift.
Also heard as
- adobe charge
- plaster shot