[Eric in the Ozarks]

ANFO is much safer to handle and use vs. other explosives. When I was a open pit coal mine manager, we would routinely use 250 pounds of ANFO in each hole drilled in the dragline bench. 7 inch diameter holes were 50-60 feet deep, on a 10 foot by 10 foot pattern. 40 or 50 holes ignited via a blasting box would really move your mortgage !

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Fifty years go I was working with a road construction crew. At the gravel pit I noticed empty sacks of ammonium nitrate fertilizer and asked about it.

They told me they would drill the holes deep, place one stick of dynamite in the bottom, then fill the hole with the fertilizer.

That was the first time I learned about the explosive properties of fertilizer.