The minimum explosible concentration (MEC) in the air atmosphere at the boundary between an explosion and no explosion in a dust cloud, has been investigated for several particle sizes of oil shale and for mixtures of oil shale and inert powder of different particle size. Limestone, stone dust and coarse particle size of oil shale were used as inert materials. Measurements were made in a standard small vertical tube apparatus. The results obtained indicated that the minimum explosible concentration is dependent on the particle size, i.e., values of MEC decrease with a decrease in the size of the particles. Below 70 pm, values of MEC become almost constant. Admixture of limestone as low as 5% to oil shale is sufficient to reduce the MEC values significantly. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.