Tag Archives: AXXIS

BME to become ‘first local manufacturer’ of electronic detonators in Western Australia

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Having actively built its foundation in the Australian mining market over the past decade, global blasting and explosives specialist BME says it is ramping up its footprint and capability with facilities in the west of the country.

These expansions represent a key aspect of the company’s strategic direction, according to BME Managing Director, Ralf Hennecke. Australia is among the high-potential markets in which BME is further expanding its existing operations, he said, leveraging the country’s status as the fourth largest mining country globally after China, the US and Russia. Australia also boasts high mineral exploration rates, which bode well for the industry’s future.

“Our first decade in Australia has been focused on importing and marketing our premium AXXIS™ electronic initiation system,” he explained. “The next exciting steps, however, go well beyond that into local manufacturing of detonators and other products and equipment in our own certified, state-of-the-art automated facilities. We also have our mobile manufacturing units (MMUs) in the country to fully integrate with our other products.”

The licensing processes have been completed for a site that BME Australia has secured in the Kalgoorlie area of Western Australia, a region strategically positioned to best supply the miners of iron ore, gold, nickel, lithium and other strategic mineral resources. This will allow the company to become the first local manufacturer of electronic detonators in the state, providing significant supply chain security and logistical benefits to mining customers, it says. The plan is to begin production by May 2024.

“Manufacturing in-country removes considerable supply chain risk for the industry, which the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted for every sector,” Hennecke said.

A similar facility has already been established in Canada as part of BME’s globalisation drive. The Western Australia plant will be able to draw on equipment that has been tried and tested in the company’s South African operations, include a semi-automated line from BME’s Losberg plant.

BME has built on its strong relationships with global blue chip mining companies in the planning of its new plant, and has reported a high degree of interest from the sector’s leading players. The AXXIS detonator has been well accepted through its multiple upgrades – and has been successfully deployed across eastern Australia for over a decade. With BME’s expansion into Western Australia, trials have been conducted with AXXIS electronic detonators at various mines in the state, and the results were extremely positive.

Emphasising the market demand, Hennecke noted that there has been a significant shift away from shock tubes and towards electronic detonators in Australia’s mining sector – as mines look to safer, automated solutions to reduce the number of ‘boots on the bench’.

“This aligns importantly with the very strict safety policies and regulations that the country has in place,” he explained. “The technology contributes to industry’s risk mitigation efforts, but also holds performance benefits in terms of facilitating large, accurate and reliable blasts which support mines’ sustainability and productivity.”

He said that BME’s progress in Australia was an expression of the company’s global ambitions, which are now turning from plans to action in the country through its commitment of capital investments and infrastructure.

BME set to take next step in international growth journey with new Canada facility

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In what it says will be a significant step in its international growth journey, BME Mining Canada Inc is to officially launch its greenfield production and service facilities in Nairn Centre, Ontario, later this year.

Developed in conjunction with its joint venture partner, Consbec, the facility underpins BME Mining Canada Inc’s evolution as a serious player in the North American market, according to Aaron Austin, BME’s General Manager Americas.

“The production plants on our site – which we will launch towards the second half of 2023 – will produce BME’s leading brand AXXIS electronic detonators, emulsion explosives and ANFO,” he said. “The facilities will also provide maintenance, servicing and cleaning of the company’s trucks and underground equipment – as well as give support for AXXIS blast initiation equipment.”

The facility will include laboratories for quality control and product development. The Nairn Centre development has been pursued alongside BME Mining Canada Inc’s success in breaking into the local market, he explained. Among the recent breakthroughs has been a five-year full-service contract with a surface gold mine in Ontario.

“Our growing in-country infrastructure builds the market’s confidence in us, and allows us to deliver our solutions and expertise to the same high quality world-wide,” he said.

BME Mining Canada is part of South Africa-based blasting specialist BME, a member of the JSE-listed Omnia Group.

As part of its ongoing expansion strategy, BME will have a presence at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) Convention in Toronto from March 5-8, 2023. BME’s focus at PDAC this year will be on launching its local joint venture in the form of BME Mining Canada Inc to the local market, as well as showcasing the latest generation electronic initiation systems – AXXIS Titanium™ and AXXIS Silver™ – which are key innovations that will be used in the region.

At the BME exhibit at PDAC will be BME’s AXXIS Support Manager, Hennie du Preez, who will showcase the system. BME General Manager, Michael Klaasen, will be there to touch base with international clients who will attend PDAC. Michelle Fedder, BME’s Brand and Marketing Manager, will also attend.

Fedder said: “The market has been excited by the ways that AXXIS Titanium, along with BME’s range of digital innovations, is helping mines to further improve safety and reduce their energy costs and achieve ESG targets in terms of more sustainable practices. Blast performance has also been enhanced through the increased blast duration per detonator, more units per blasting box and precise firing accuracy.”

Among the range of field testing that the new AXXIS systems have undergone is to conduct blasts in cold climates and freezing weather, according to Du Preez.

“We have had AXXIS successfully tested in the US for operating in temperatures below -40 °C,” he said. “This was done in anticipation of our growing business opportunities in the US and Canada.”

BME recently also employed AXXIS Silver to blast in sub-zero conditions for a diamond mining customer in the mountains of Lesotho.

Du Preez pointed out the benefit of thin, copper-cladded downline wire, which de-coils easily for use in small diameter holes – even when they are waterlogged. Due to their robust quality, BME’s electronic detonators were able to remain in the holes for two days before blasting, in temperatures below zero where the hole collars froze solid, he said.

Miners continue cost control focus amid demand uptick, BME’s Hennecke says

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As BME gears up to showcase its explosives and blasting offering to a Mining Indaba crowd in Cape Town, South Africa, that is encouraged by the global energy sector’s appetite for minerals, the company’s Managing Director warns that the mining industry is still focused on reducing its cost base.

The demand for minerals – many of which can be sourced in Africa – is good news for the future of mining, and will no doubt be an important focus at this year’s Investing in Mining Indaba, which runs from February 6-9.

However, the pressure on mines is still all about low-cost production, Ralf Hennecke, Managing Director of Omnia Group company BME, warns. This year, BME will be exhibiting at the event to showcase its mining and explosive solutions, including its flagship AXXIS Titanium™ electronic initiation system.

Hennecke is bullish about the positive impact of the energy revolution on mining, as there is widespread expectation that volumes of battery-related commodities will need to ramp up considerably. Efforts to decarbonise the world economy are relying on energy technologies that are mineral-intensive, he explained.

“The average amount of minerals needed for a new unit of power generation capacity will grow by 50%, according to predictions by the International Energy Agency,” he said. “This is because solar photovoltaic plants, wind farms and electric vehicles generally require more minerals to build than their fossil fuel-based counterparts.”

The typical electric car, for instance, requires six times the mineral inputs of a conventional car, and a wind plant requires nine times more mineral resources than a gas-fired plant. This quickly translates into considerable demand growth in certain minerals.

“In terms of lithium, the largest consumers are now electric vehicles and battery storage applications,” he said. “It is expected that these applications will also be the largest consumer of nickel within less than 20 years.”

While this is good news for Africa, where many battery minerals will be sourced, the continent’s mining sector will always need to be globally competitive, BME says. This means efficiency across the mining value chain, rooted in on-mine productivity and safety.

“As an early-stage activity in the mining cycle, BME recognises the importance of blast design and execution in laying the groundwork for optimal operations,” Hennecke said. “Our technology developments including AXXIS™ and other digital innovations allow quality blasting that raises productivity in energy-intensive phases such as loading, hauling, crushing and milling.”

Only by optimising efficiencies can mines achieve a place in the lowest cost quartile of producers, which in turn enhances their commercial viability and makes them less reliant on commodity price cycles, BME says.

“Given the cyclical nature of the mining industry, Africa’s mineral producers can build a long-term future for the sector by remaining sustainable even through the dips in the cycle,” Hennecke said. “There is a depth of experience and technologies, developed right here on the continent, that can help put them in that advantageous position.”

The AXXIS Titanium system being showcased at Mining Indaba has been trialled and tested in various global mining destinations and conditions.

BME supports industry skills development with new graduate program

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A two-year graduate program has been launched by Omnia-group company BME to, it says, address youth unemployment and skills shortages in an evolving mining industry.

The program targets various disciplines in engineering and science – including mining, chemistry and microbiology, as well as skills in the fields of safety, health, environment and quality assurance. This is part of the commitment by BME’s leadership to support skills development and the growth of young people within the mining industry. The initiative is also instrumental in attracting and retaining talent for the company, it said.

Announcing the initiative, BME Managing Director, Ralf Hennecke, said that many businesses in industry require work experience, and graduates are often overlooked as they do not have the necessary skills or the understanding of the work environment to fill the role.

“Coupled to this, some graduates consider the work environment to be daunting,” Hennecke said. “We, therefore, believe our role will be to ensure that each graduate on our program is provided with the opportunity to grow and develop and reach their full potential. It is vital that we invest in skills development of the next generation of people who will drive the mining industry in the future.”

BME has recruited 19 graduates and placed them at various underground and surface mining sites where the company is currently active. Some graduates have also been placed at BME’s Losberg emulsion plant and its AXXIS™ initiation system plant.

BME Human Resources Manager, Tebogo Seakamela, said: “In a country like South Africa, it is crucial to train graduates without prior work experience, and this is what BME aims to do. Skills development and bringing new entrants into the sector is critical in growing our economy and the mining sector, which is still one of the largest contributors to the country’s gross domestic product.”

She noted that BME prioritises the nurturing and development of young talent, highlighting that these graduates gain immeasurable knowledge and understanding of the real world of work while on the program, ultimately preparing them for the workplace.

“Due to their resilience, agility and bold characters, our graduates have remained committed to the program,” she said.

As a trend in the market, most locally trained graduates are also recruited into other countries after having completed a graduate program – including those around Africa. “This is commendable and a testament to the calibre of our South African mining graduates,” she said.

She highlighted that while the graduates were from various universities across the country, the majority were from Wits Mining Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

The industry is also evolving in terms of minerals extraction, she said, noting that with the introduction of automated and artificial intelligence-based mining, the graduates will get first-hand experience of these technologies being used in the workplace.

“We are building the skills for the future, as well as ensuring that we cultivate a learning culture that encourages and enables critical thinking and innovation,” she noted. “At the same time, these graduates are offered diverse career path options.”

Mampe Mogale, a Mining Engineering Graduate currently based at a mining operation in the Northern Cape, noted that BME held a two-day induction for all its interns across various disciplines at the beginning of October.

“The aim was to familiarise us with the company structure, various disciplines and the people responsible for certain roles within the organisation,” Mogale said.

Clement Marilela, a Mechanical Engineering Graduate, explained that BME made his transition into the company as smooth as possible, informing the graduates about the organisation, while helping them realise the “incredible opportunity” they have been offered.

“It was great to be given the chance to interact with and learn from some of the organisations’ leaders as they shared their expertise and passion for the business,” Marilela said.

Hennecke concluded: “BME is proud to play its part in cultivating the future workforce, preparing them for the field of work. South African graduates are talented and, with on-site experience, can be gainfully employed.”

BME pushes the boundaries with AXXIS Titanium electronic delay detonators

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Blasting and explosive solutions provider, BME says it is once again pushing the boundaries of safety with its initiation system, this time testing the resistance of its AXXIS Titanium™ electronic delay detonators (EDDs) to high current AC voltages.

“There are a number of different voltages that underground mines employ for their various machinery and equipment,” Tinus Brits, BME’s Global Product Manager – AXXIS™, said. “The tests we carried out with an independent research partner were able to show that the AXXIS Titanium EDD is very resistant to high current AC voltages.”

South Africa’s Department of Minerals Resources ARP1717 certification is relevant to this aspect of blasting, providing a foundation for the safety levels expected from blasting equipment, according to Bennie van Nieuwenhuizen, Quality Manager for AXXIS.

“In line with our innovation focus and our commitment to safety, the tests we conducted were to push the boundaries even further in the interests of safe blasting and mining,” van Nieuwenhuizen said. “We were therefore interested in characterising the response of our detonators at far higher currents and voltages than the standards require.”

The context for these tests is that EDDs are typically deployed in mining environments where the range of energy levels is difficult to predict – as every mine will have their own preferred power supplies. In some mining applications, EDDs are used near electrical wires or electric initiation systems.

Andries Posthumus, AXXIS Product Development Manager, explained: “This gives rise to the risk that the EDDs could be exposed to high voltages and currents due to human error or equipment failure. It is therefore important that EDDs should have resistance to initiation when unintentionally exposed to high voltage and current.”

He highlighted that the AXXIS Titanium EDD consists of an encapsulated electronic module, with an electronic printed circuit board that is over-moulded with a plastic material in a proprietary shape. The area closest to the explosive part of the detonator forms a friction fit, as the detonator tube is tapered to the bottom. This forms a seal mechanism, isolating the electronic components from the pyro-technic head and base charge.

The testing protocol required specialised high-power inputs, so BME partnered with the National Electrical Test Facility, according to BME Electronic Engineer, Hendrik van Niekerk.

“The tests involved a high current AC voltage source consisting of a live node, connected through a resistor to the one wire of the detonator, and the neutral node to the other wire of the detonator,” he said. “A remote contactor was used to start the AC exposure, while we measured the voltage with a high voltage probe and measured the current level with a current probe.”

The test levels were pushed to extreme levels not expected in normal operating conditions and, in all the samples tested, no initiation occurred.

“We were pleased with the results of the tests, which showed that BME continues to operate at the highest levels of safety,” Brits said. “Our innovative approach ensures that our ongoing research and testing finds new opportunities for safe and efficient blasting.”

Blasting’s role in making mining more sustainable

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Blasting technology – alongside advanced low carbon emission emulsion explosives – is helping pave the way on mining’s sustainability journey, according to BME.

“The digital age has given us the opportunity to leverage the quality of our people, products and service – to optimise blast technology,” BME Managing Director, Ralf Hennecke, says. “Building on the flexibility and accuracy of electronic detonation, our digital tools can make mining more efficient and less carbon intensive.”

By collaborating with customers and technology partners, BME says it has developed solutions that can enhance output and are easily integrated – both between BME’s digital products and externally.

Hennecke emphasised that software platform integration was key to ensuring innovative digital tools could operate seamlessly with a mine’s existing systems.

An innovation that has received global attention is BME’s electronic detonation system, AXXIS. Developed by an in-house team of specialists, AXXIS improves the quality of blasts and mine productivity.

Tinus Brits, Global Product Manager for AXXIS, says: “The entire system was designed in South Africa and built by our own engineering department. All the support and maintenance on the system is conducted by our dedicated in-house technicians.”

Applied in conjunction with BME’s Blastmap blast planning software, AXXIS demonstrates the value of product integration, BME says. Complex blast designs can be easily and quickly transferred from the Blastmap planning platform to the AXXIS initiation platform. Brits noted that Blastmap can also export to third-party initiation systems that a mining customer might already be using.

Among the capabilities that BME has brought to the mining sector are longer blasting windows to allow for larger and more productive blasts.

“The increased firing window of AXXIS Titanium – the latest generation of the AXXIS system – gives mines the opportunity to conduct larger blasts,” Brits said.

The company can also design more complex blasts.

The quality of these blasts ensures better fragmentation, so that less energy is consumed in downstream stages like loading, hauling, crushing and milling. Less energy converts directly to lower carbon emissions when coal- or diesel-fired electricity is used. Larger blasts also mean fewer mine stoppages, facilitating a more streamlined mining process.

“Safety remains a key focus in mining, and a safe mine is a productive mine,” Brits said. “Our digital initiation systems innovate constantly to raise the level of safety in blasting – such as the dual basis of safety in our latest AXXIS Titanium system.”

These safety improvements build on the high-level safety of emulsions when compared with Class 1 explosives. Emulsions are inert until sensitised in the blast hole, so can be more safely transported and stored.

BME’s emulsions also contribute to environmental protection through their inclusion of used oil as a fuel agent. The company has developed a large collection network for used oil, which responsibly transports waste oil from users for its production process. After being incorporated into the emulsion, the used oil is safely disposed of when the emulsion explodes.

So extensive is this network that BME today collects around 20% of South Africa’s used oil, it says.

Sachin Govender, BME’s Used Oil Manager, said: “By using this waste oil in our emulsions, we are eliminating the use of diesel, which is a high carbon source. This plays a positive role in helping our mining customers achieve their ESG goals.”

Where customers have their used oil collected by BME, the initiative delivers a double benefit, according to Govender. On the one hand, it deals responsibly with a waste product that presents an environmental risk; on the other, it reduces the need for diesel as a fuel agent.

“There is also a positive social impact from our used oil initiative,” he said. “We engage small enterprises to collect the oil, which has an economic ripple effect in local communities.”

BME now has about a dozen approved suppliers across South Africa, according to Govender, which have created around 300 job opportunities.

“As we empower small businesses to create an income from this waste, we are conserving the environment while also promoting social upliftment,” he said.

BME continues to make blasting strides in Indonesia

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Having pursued a global expansion in recent decades, South Africa-based blasting leader BME says it is making good on an exciting new phase for its Indonesia operations.

With mainly a trading presence in Indonesia for 10 years already, the Omnia Group company has been active in full-service contracting for the past two – and is already receiving high-level recognition, it says. In September 2021, BME Indonesia was honoured with a good mining practice award in the blasting services category by the Indonesian Government.

According to Brad Bulow, General Manager of BME Australia Asia, this bodes particularly well for the company in a country with such a bright future in mineral production.

“Indonesia’s mining sector is well positioned for growth, and coal is the fastest growing source of energy production there,” Bulow said. “Coal is mainly used in Indonesia’s power generation, and the country’s supply is dominated by coal-fired power plants at this stage.”

Forecasts indicate that coal will remain a dominant energy source in Indonesia and the South East Asian region until about 2050, supporting power generation and other industry sectors, according to BME.

“Nickel is also an exciting commodity for Indonesia, which is estimated to have the largest reserves of nickel in the world – more even than Australia,” said Bulow. “As an indispensable raw material for producing electric car batteries, nickel is one of the country’s fastest growing mineral commodities.”

Investors are looking at building smelters in-country to process nickel into raw material for batteries, while nickel ore itself has been banned for export by the government since January 2020.

Commenting on the recent good practice award, BME’s Business Manager Indonesia, Agusman, noted that such recognition meant a great deal – and would help cement BME’s reputation as an innovator with world-class standards of operation. BME Indonesia has been supplying explosive products and accessories into Indonesia for over a decade. Holding company BME is a leading player in blasting services and products in Africa, with a global presence including Australia, Canada and the US.

The company has also developed specific products for the region, including a single-salt emulsion. Widely known for its superior dual-salt emulsion technology, BME was able to respond to customer requests in 2019 for a single-salt option. This was put into use in early 2020 and has since been producing excellent blasting results, according to the company. The product has even been trialled with used oil as the fuel agent, which has become an environmentally friendly and sustainable hallmark of BME’s emulsion products.

While BME Indonesia supplied mainly ammonium nitrate, packaged explosives, boosters, and electric and non-electric detonators before 2019, its large blasting services contract in south Kalimantan has opened the door for significant expansion.

“In this project, BME Indonesia has put to work four Mobile Manufacturing Units (MMUs) – our bulk explosives delivery trucks – and an on-site emulsion manufacturing plant,” Bulow said. “In addition to emulsion and down-the-hole services, we are also supplying our AXXIS™ electronic detonators to help customers achieve timing accuracy and control their blasting vibration.”

Another important aspect of BME’s technological contribution is the move by customers toward big data analytics, according to Bulow.

“Big data allows larger mines and their contractors to generate meaningful insights into their operations – paving the way to greater efficiency,” he said. “BME Indonesia is introducing our BLAST ALLIANCE™ portfolio of digital innovations, which includes our BLASTMAP™ planning software, BME Blasting guide app and XPLOLOG™ cloud data platform. Solutions such as AXXIS integration, custom development and training also fall under this brand.”

In the medium term, Bulow said the company looks forward to winning more projects and penetrating further into surface metals and underground mining – and the funding, innovation and advanced technology is in place to achieve this goal.

“Looking further ahead, BME Indonesia expects to continue growing its contribution to Indonesia in general – and local communities in particular,” he said. “This includes our transfer of knowledge and technology, the utilisation of local resources and ongoing community development.”

BME launches Blast Alliance brand to encourage blasting technology collaboration

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Blasting technology is moving mining towards a more sustainable future, with BME and its recent launch of the ‘Blast Alliance’ brand looking to add impetus to this evolution.

The Omnia Group company has announced that Blast Alliance will encompass its portfolio of digital innovations including its BLASTMAP™ planning software, BME Blasting guide app and XPLOLOG™ cloud data platform. Solutions such as AXXIS™ integration, custom development and training also fall under this brand.

“Our new Blast Alliance brand represents the company’s journey of digital innovation and the collaborative approach we take in this exciting process,” BME Managing Director, Joe Keenan, said. “We believe this collaboration must be holistic, so we partner in three arenas: internally to optimise our solutions; through direct engagement with our customers; and working with third-parties where the need is identified – to enhance outputs for customers.”

Keenan said by giving BME’s software and solutions portfolio its own brand and identity, it will assert a unique market position underpinned by the company’s spirit of enterprise and the highest levels of integrity.

Michelle Fedder, BME Manager: Marketing and Brand, emphasised that the step was part of enhancing BME’s reputation as a technology and innovation-orientated partner.

“Blast Alliance provides our software portfolio with its own values, character, essence and value proposition,” Fedder said. “From a marketing perspective, the brand assures our customers of collaborative, innovative and integrated digital and automated mining and blasting solutions – further enhancing their value chains.”

The portfolio will adapt and evolve with key solutions as needs are identified, applying BME’s growing depth of digital and technological expertise, according to BME Software Product Manager, Christiaan Liebenberg.

“We are delivering flexibility, fluidity and future-facing solutions to our customers,” Liebenberg said. “A key focus here is the integration of our technology with mine-wide platforms, as part of the drive to support mining’s ongoing productivity efforts. Our initiatives also leverage digital technology to allow greater availability of real-time data.”

Keenan said that the Blast Alliance brand underscored the company’s core objectives in its offering to customers. These include optimising productivity, efficiency and safety while minimising risk through predictability – as well as reducing costs, promoting data-driven and real-time decision making, and enhancing process optimisation.

“As the mining sector embraces more technology, it is likely to be increasingly viewed as a forward-looking contributor in the transition to a more sustainable economy,” he said. “Implementing digital communication infrastructure at mine level can also have positive spin-offs for local communities – potentially improving connectivity in remote areas as part of mining’s environmental, social and governance commitment.”

BME breaks another electronic detonator blast record in South Africa

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Another South African record for the largest electronic detonator blast has been broken by the blasting and explosives company BME.

The blast was conducted by BME, an Omnia Group company, at the end of 2020 at a manganese mine in South Africa’s Northern Cape province. Using its AXXIS™ electronic initiation system, BME was able to plan and execute a blast of 4,647 detonators. Just a few months earlier, the company had broken a previous record at the same mine by initiating 3,780 detonators in a single blast.

“The latest achievement involved a remarkable 535 t of emulsion explosive in over 2,300 blast holes requiring a total of more than 37,000 m of drilling,” Kobus Boonzaaier, BME Area Manager in the Northern Cape, said. “The resulting blast was able to move almost 2.3 Mt of rock within a matter of seconds.”

Boonzaaier highlighted that the advantage of these large blasts is that they allow mines to blast less often; this means less disruption and a more streamlined operation. The size of the blast was not the only factor to consider, however, as a quality blast must also optimise key outcomes like fragmentation, BME said.

“We were pleased to once again achieve good fragmentation with this blast, ensuring that the resulting particle size would facilitate efficient loading, hauling and comminution by the mine,” Boonzaaier said.

The mine has made use of a full blasting service from BME for the past five years, with BME providing its expertise through a team of over 20 blasters, operators and assistants.

BME’s emulsion explosives – combined with AXXIS electronic initiation system, electronic detonators, blast planning software and other accessories – have been helping break records at South African mines for over a decade. It has conducted even larger blasts in Australia and Zambia in recent years – in the coal and copper sectors, respectively.

BME looks to regain growth in Australia/Asia as COVID-19 lockdowns ease

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Having sustained its supply chain through initial COVID-19 lockdowns, BME, a member of the Omnia Holdings Group, says it is looking ahead to continued growth in Australia and Asia.

Brad Bulow, BME’s General Manager Australia-Asia, says its Australia and Indonesia blasting and explosives clients continued to efficiently operate through the initial lockdown period, being successfully supported by BME’s Brisbane and Jakarta offices, which applied a work-from-home policy.

Bulow noted that the company has been able to maintain the supply of AXXIS™ detonators to its customers over the lockdown period by using a combination of “agile manufacturing planning, air and sea freight solutions” along with leveraging inventories in “strategic locations”.

BME recently commissioned a new emulsion plant in Indonesia in support of existing down-the-hole blast loading operations, which helped the situation.

“We are forecasting strong growth for our AXXIS offering in Australia and Asia and have recently introduced two new customers to the product,” Bulow said. “Currently, our mining customers are producing good volumes, and their demand for our products remains high.”

Such strong growth projections will no doubt factor in the release of the latest generation of BME’s AXXIS system – AXXIS TITANIUM™. Expected to launch later this year, it will be the most advanced electronic blast initiation system on the market, according to Tinus Brits, BME’s Global Product Manager for AXXIS.

Back in May, the company said trials of the system in South Africa had proven successful with a 100% success rate to date.