Because what the mining industry does is move rock and dirt, it would prefer to move as much through blasting and as little through loading and trucking as possible. This makes cast blasting attractive. It also makes it more destructive since the temptation is to use more explosives so as to move the overburden more. The major tool for controlling ground vibration is the scale distance formula. By plugging the distance to the nearest structure into the formula, it is possible to determine how much explosives are allowed.
Distance is the distance in feet.
It is also reasonably common practice to use a seismograph for blasts that are in the vicinity of homes. Dust is one of the least studied aspects of blasting. Coalfield citizens experience it in the clouds of dust that rise up from any blast. Because it is largely unregulated, there is not any great body of literature on its causes and prevention. There is no control technology.