Definition
A mine is a mortar-fired device that, rather than climbing before it breaks, throws a spray of stars, comets, whistles or crackling straight up from the ground in one go. The lift charge ignites the garniture directly, which shoots out in an open cone 20 to 60 m high depending on calibre, from 50 to 150 mm for displays. The effect is brief, one to three seconds, but very bright and perfectly synchronisable: launch and effect coincide, with none of a shell's flight time. Mines come as plain mines, bombette mines (a bouquet that rises and breaks) and “mine-shells” combining both. They are the tool of choice for musical accents and fanned openings.
In practice, for the display company
A mine is fired from a mortar like a shell, but its effect is instant: in a pyromusical it is placed directly on the beat with no flight delay. PyroDesk treats the mine as a calibre-based reference, assigns it a mortar in the rack and lists it in the declaration; PyroSimulator renders the cone of stars at the exact instant of the cue.