As Zambia’s copper mining focus shifts west from Kitwe, Ndola and Chingola to the growing operations at Solwezi and Kalumbila, blasting leader BME supplies some of the largest minerals operations in the country – with further potential for growth across the border in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Getting real-time data from a blast block during drilling, charging and stemming operations is difficult with traditional manual reporting systems – but BME’s XPLOLOG™ system has changed all that. XPLOLOG™ gives managers the power to improve the quality of blast preparation – leading to better blasting results and more profitable mining.
Cullinan Diamond Mine is planning to gain further improvements in safety, mining efficiencies and productivity while reducing mining costs, through the recent implementation of BME’s AXXIS centralised blasting system (CBS) across the underground operation.
Blasting and explosives leader BME has again improved its safety performance, reaching a recordable case rate (RCR) of just 0,22 for its last financial year– well below the rate of 0,6 to 0,7 commonly achieved by the mining sector as a whole.
According to Brad Bulow, AIS director and BME’s General Manager Australia Asia, AIS will become known as BME Australia in a rebranding process that will begin in the second quarter of 2018. BME has been the majority shareholder in AIS since it helped form the company in Australia five years ago.
West Africa remains an exciting region for SA-based explosives and blasting leader BME, which has recently won a full blasting service contract for a new opencast gold mining operation set to become the largest producer in Mali.
The revolutionary transition from non-electric to electronic delay detonators (EDDs) in the field of blasting has brought many benefits to mining productivity, but there are still plenty of advantages to be gained by blast pioneers who are prepared to think ‘outside the box’.
Lightning strikes on opencast mines and quarries pose a regular threat to life and productivity, and are of particular concern to blasting personnel and equipment; but there is still much to be learned about how best to manage this risk.
Explosives and blasting technology leader BME has established a High-Tech Services unit to advance the application of drones in mine blasting activities.
In a first for South African mining, Gold One’s Modder East mine has rolled out an innovative infrastructure to use emulsion explosives for all 70 of its underground narrow-reef stope panels, as part of its strategy to reduce its cost per ton mined.
