Features, Safety analysis, Safety processes, Surface operations, Underground operations

The science of blasting

AXXIS Titanium can help miners achieve optimal blast outcomes, while keeping workers safe, and reducing costs, inefficiencies and environmental impacts. Image: BME

BME is delivering safe and high-quality blasting solutions to the Australian mining industry.

Safety, quality and innovation are the pillars that underpin blasting specialist BME, and guide every aspect of its operations. A member of the Omnia Group, BME has been ramping up its presence in Australia for the past year.

The company’s safety-first approach to blasting has resonated strongly with the mining industry. This reception has been instrumental in BME’s decision to announce the establishment of a new manufacturing facility in Western Australia.

When asked what sets it apart from the rest, BME senior product manager Dr Rakhi Pathak said it was the company’s ability to deliver customers tailored blasting solutions suited to their specific requests.

BME senior product manager Dr Rakhi Pathak.
BME senior product manager Dr Rakhi Pathak. Image: BME

“Whether underground or on the surface, BME can customise its emulsion, blasting design, delivery systems and software solutions to suit the varied needs of our clientele,” she told Safe to Work. “BME Australia can offer customised solutions that deliver safe, reliable and high-quality blasting.”

A ground-up approach

BME’s manufacturing methodology is characterised by meticulous attention to detail. Each raw ingredient used in its emulsions goes through a series of quality tests, while automation assembly lines used in the manufacturing process feature built-in safety and quality assurances.

This type of precision is crucial in safeguarding against the introduction of unforeseen elements into the product, thereby preserving its quality and stability.

Emulsions are also manufactured at low temperatures using recycled oil, which helps to reduce power consumption and waste, while also lowering carbon emissions.

“Dual-salt emulsions have extended shelf life, can tolerate extreme operating conditions, and offer increased blast performance,” Pathak said. “They are also much safer to transport than traditional emulsions, which is very important in Australia, where operations are often in remote and hot environments.

“Dual-salt-based emulsions are highly robust systems that can be successfully pumped multiple times and are less susceptible to crystallisation, the cause of product breakdown and fumes.”

Speaking of fumes, the emission of harmful gases during blasting has long been a safety concern of the mining industry. But BME’s dual-salt emulsion significantly reduces these risks.

“The chemical composition of dual-salt emulsions can be easily optimised to minimise the generation of harmful gases,” Pathak said.

“A careful balance of the oxidiser – the ammonium nitrate and calcium nitrate – and the fuel in an emulsion is necessary to ensure only harmless gases are generated.”

These emulsions are also less susceptible than traditional explosives to nitrate leaching, which can cause environmental damage and threaten a mine’s compliance with relevant legislation.

Flicking the switch on safety

BME’s blast detonation technology AXXIS is where the safety functions truly come to life.

AXXIS Titanium is the latest product introduction of the initiation system, which includes several safety gates against stray currents and lighting to prevent accidental initiation. Blasts can only be triggered by a robust, encrypted blast command from AXXIS Titanium, which ensures all electronic delay detonators receive their respective commands and fire as planned.

BME will manufacture its AXXIS detonation systems in Kalgoorlie, WA.
BME will manufacture its AXXIS detonation systems in Kalgoorlie, WA. Image: BME

In other words, the detonator will only react if it receives the correct encrypted firing sequence from the blasting equipment.

AXXIS Titanium also incorporates dual capacitors and dual voltage, allowing users to conduct low-voltage testing and logging to avoid any chance of detonation.

“These detonators also bring significant additional safety benefits in blast initiation due to their ability to be tested before being fired, facilitate two-way communications, reliability, programmability and precision,” BME general manager Australia Michael Wiseman said. “Mining operations can now be more confident that misfires can largely be eliminated due to these attributes.”

In an important strategic milestone for BME Australia, the company is advancing a manufacturing facility for its detonators in Kalgoorlie, WA.

When operational, this facility will make BME the first local manufacturer of electronic detonators in the state. And, importantly, the facility will also provide the WA mining industry with significant supply chain security and logistical benefits.

“There has been a significant market shift away from shock tubes and towards electronic detonators in Australia’s mining sector,” Wiseman said. “BME’s explosive systems have a range of safety features, including a double-insulated copper core, giving market-leading strength to in-hole stresses during loading and firing; two-way communication between detonator and firing system; full track-and-trace from plant to pit; and one-millisecond accuracy across the full range of firing times.

“BME’s technology contributes to industry’s risk-mitigation efforts, but also holds performance benefits in terms of facilitating large, accurate and reliable blasts.”

The future of blasting

Pathak said BME adopts a comprehensive “end-to-end value-chain strategy” to its operations, addressing not only safety and supply chain considerations but also environmental factors.

In line with this ethos, the company is developing a sustainable blasting solution, which has so far yielded exciting results.

In partnership with Hypex Bio, BME is developing a nitrate-free emulsion, which will have significant environmental benefits. The new emulsion has so far demonstrated a 90 per cent reduction in nitrogen oxide gases.

“At BME, we’re always looking for the next thing – harnessing new technologies to make things safer not just for people but for the environment, too,” Pathak said.

For BME, everything from the design stage through to when the dust settles on a blast has been painstakingly engineered.

From the underground to surface mining, the company’s suite of blasting solutions is making mining operations safer across Australia.

This feature also appears in the July-August issue of Safe to Work.

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