Tag Archives: Austin Powder

Austin Powder develops lead-free explosives detonator

Environmental, Explosives and blasting, Mining services, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , ,

Austin Powder has developed a lead-free primary explosive detonators for its clients that, it says, comes ahead of regulators mandating the use of such an alternative.

Austin Powder started looking for a lead-free alternative to lead azide back in 2007 at its detonator facility, Austin Star Detonator. The initial work was started by Morris Bannerman and Göran Jidestig.

“Developing, testing, and producing a new primary explosive is the biggest nightmare for any explosive/detonator maker,” Jan Jidestig, Director of R&D and QC, said. “It is a project that has taken us nearly 15 years. The new substance was designed by experienced chemists who worked collaboratively with the engineers to design the production process. We couldn’t rush the process, and we had some dead ends and had to significantly change the product design, and even parts of the entire manufacturing process. But we did it.”

By 2016, a pilot-scale reactor was designed, which could produce small-scale batches. This was then used to develop the method and to produce enough powder to perform a qualification test. The first field test was carried out in 2018 with 8,500 detonators for Philipsburg in Pennsylvania, USA. During this time, a full-scale reactor was developed with the help of Daniel Rontey and the engineering team at Austin Powder. The first full-scale reaction was completed on April 5, 2019. Production with the new component started in late 2020, with over 93,000 detonators shipped to the field for trials. In 2022, a total of 2.6 million detonators were shipped and used throughout Mexico and the US.

Otta Greben, Global Director of Detonator Products, says: “There is a rule for any explosive makers – don’t change it if it works. But the world is changing, and our approach to safety and health within our production is changing. Here we have internal and external contributors to drive the change. We also have requirements from regulators (you must) and our own decision to improve production hygiene and safety (you should). However, we proactively made the decision to develop lead-free detonators way in advance.”

“The world is changing, and so is Austin Powder,” Homer Solis, Director of Austin Star Detonator, said. “Like most responsible companies, we felt obligated to contribute to making this world a better place. Sure, it was a difficult decision since the biggest fear was a change, but our advantage was that we were not producing the primary explosive. It took years to develop, but our young team of chemists and chemical engineers were able to accomplish this challenging task.”

Austin Powder completes record E*STAR blast at Queensland coal mine

Explosives and blasting, Mine operation news, Mining services, Steel and iron ore, , , , , , , ,

Austin Powder says it has completed a record blast using its E*STAR Electronic Blasting System Remote 2.5.

The blast occurred at a large coal mine in Queensland, Australia, back on June 30, which is serviced by distributor Platinum Blasting Services.

A total of 3,630 electronic detonators were consumed in the blast – a global record volume of electronic detonators fired in a single blast for Austin Powder, it said.

Four E*STAR Remote 2.5 Blast Boxes were used to connect to and synchronously fire the 3,630 E*STAR electronic detonators inside 2,133 blast holes, loaded with a total of 437,385 kg of bulk explosives.

The Remote 2.5 system has the capability of synchronously firing up to eight Remote Blast Boxes, each with 1,600 detonators connected, enabling a total of 12,800 detonators to be fired in a single blast, according to the company.

Christine Grealy, Senior Technical Engineer, Platinum Blasting Services, said: “I greatly appreciate the efforts of the Platinum Blasting crew, especially Ben Faulkner as Shotfirer in Charge, Grant Merriman Shotfirer (2nd), and Walker Seccombe as Shift Site Supervisor. They all did a superb job ensuring such a large blast was successful.”

Campbell Robertson, Global Manager – Electronic Initiation Systems, said: “This record blast is a testament to the dedicated efforts of our research and development resources, field engineers, and technicians in bringing to our customer a system and solution that meets (and in some cases exceeds) our customer’s and end user’s needs.

“Congratulations to Christine Grealy and her team at Platinum Blasting Services, that were instrumental in making this blast record a reality – the quality of the best practices applied can clearly be seen in the ‘textbook example’ blast video. We look forward to collaborating with our distributors and customers in firing larger and larger blasts to fully utilise the system’s capacity.”

Austin Powder looks to improve the blast initiation process with E*STAR RFID tagging

Explosives and blasting, Mining equipment, Mining safety, , , , ,

Austin Powder, an industrial explosives and engineered blasting solutions provider, has announced the release of its new E*STAR Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tagging technology to improve flexibility and time savings.

RFID technology makes it possible to identify the detonator without physical contact between the logger and the detonator, according to Austin Powder.

The company said: “Austin Powder is committed to continuously improving all its products and is proud to introduce RFID as the latest edition to the E*STAR Electronic Initiation System. Benefits of RFID detonator tagging include flexibility and time savings. In one operation, the use of RFID resulted in a 50% time savings over traditional direct connect programming.

“E*STAR RFID allows blasters greater flexibility on when to log holes, assign detonator timing and test detonators or branch circuit verification. Blasters can also choose to assign timing to the detonators after holes are loaded and tested for continuity.”

The RFID feature is a much quicker process than direct contact logging or any other detonator programming method, according to Austin. All required detonator information is right where it is needed, but, with RFID tagging, the logger display will still show all the necessary details about the detonator, and one logger can tag up to 1,600 detonators.

Unlike standard barcode labels, harsh field conditions do not impact the effectiveness of the RFID labels, Austin claims. Cold temperatures, snow, muddy or emulsion-covered labels, or even heavy rain will not comprise the data embedded in the RFID label, making it the most reliable product on the market, it added.

Campbell Robertson, Global Manager Electronic Initiation, said: “Our latest addition of RFID as a logging option offers select customers the ability to rapidly extract our E*STAR electronic detonator’s critical information used to assign a delay, right from the RFID tag. The RFID tag works in any conditions, whether in direct sunlight or the low light underground, wet or muddy, even emulsion covered conditions. What’s more, the RFID tag and the data stored within it cannot be degraded by solvents.”