BME Namibia is building its local skills, technical capacity and supply chain to consolidate and grow its position in Namibia’s mining sector, according to Albie Visser, BME’s general manager for South Africa and Namibia.
Rock that reacts with emulsion explosives can cause real headaches for blasting personnel, but BME’s double-edged solution allows customers to quickly identify reactive ground and apply the appropriate product.
According to Umesh Chhika, BME’s general manager for Asia Pacific and strategic projects, Indonesia’s vast opencast coal industry still overwhelmingly uses ammonium nitrate and fuel oil – or ANFO – as its primary blasting medium.
Explosives leader BME has raised the bar with a record blast at Zambia’s Kansanshi mine in March, detonating 4,141 electronic delay detonation (EDDs) in a single blast in the operation’s north-west pit.
28 year old Refiloe Kekana, a fully qualified mining engineer and explosives researcher at BME, is proving that women can make significant contributions towards the mining sector’s operational advancement – not only at boardroom level, but at the coal face.
As part of its modernisation strategy, Anglo American Platinum’s Tumela Mine has partnered with blasting firm BME in a pioneering initiative to introduce emulsion explosives underground at its mine near Thabazimbi in Limpopo province.
Generational thinking – rather than focusing only on quarter-to-quarter profitability – is key to seeing out the current commodity slump and growing into Africa’s mining future.
A dedicated ‘blasting science’ team – including experts in engineering, physics, mathematics and geology – has become a key driver of innovation in BME, according to blasting technology director Tony Rorke.
Only 13% to 15% of Africa’s trade is within the continent – compared to 63% in Europe and 40% in North America – leaving huge scope for better economic integration between African countries, according to futures strategist Guy Lundy.
BME is poised for the challenges the future might hold in mining locally, in Africa and beyond. But past performance is no indication of future success. It will not be easy. Competition is fierce everywhere we go and new business is scarce. We will have to be extraordinary. We have to ensure our people are the best, well trained and always carry the customer’s best interests at heart.”
