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The beginning of open cast and underground development and extraction of hard rock resources is the difficult and most power consuming and costly process of blast-holes drilling using the very expensive, but highly productive modern rock drills. Most influencing on the economics of blast-holes drilling is the selection of the drilling machines, accessories, parameters and regimes most fit for given mining and geological drilling conditions. This manual dwelt on the different methods of rock drilling; as well as on the design and technical characteristics of the different rock drills, and their different accessories fit for the whole range of different mining and geological conditions of surface and underground blast-holes drilling. It also dwelt on the physical and mechanical properties of drilled rocks, and on their influence on the effectiveness of blast-holes drilling; as well as on the issues of automatic control of surface drilling for maximizing the utilization and protection of drill rigs, especially when operating in the complex and highly variable geological conditions.

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Antipas Massawe and Savinus Maronga are PhD holders in Mining Engineering from Moscow State Mining Institute in 1989 and in Chemical Engineering from The Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Sweden in 1998. Massawe is a retired lecturer, while Maronga is still a lecturer of The University of Dar es Salaam.

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