Tag Archives: Christiaan Liebenberg

BME reflects on explosives market developments following ISEE conference attendance

Explosives and blasting, Mining events, Mining services, , , , , , , ,

Following its attendance at the recent International Society of Explosives Engineers event in the USA city of Savannah, Georgia, last month, Neil Alberts, Head of Business Development at BME Mining Canada, has highlighted the high level of creative innovation in blasting on show.

“The industry has definitely made the most of addressing the challenges presented by the pandemic – really raising its game in terms of technology solutions,” Alberts said. “These advances are important in strengthening the mining supply chain globally, while continuing to promote productivity, efficiency and sustainability.

“While many of the market’s offerings had been introduced at previous ISEE conferences, there was more confidence in their capabilities this year and a better likelihood of uptake. Some smaller vendors – from as far afield as South Africa, Australia, Indonesia and European countries – also presented more open platforms, making these easier to integrate with other solutions.”

According to Christiaan Liebenberg, BME’s Product Manager Software, this year’s event was also a chance for BME to demonstrate their digital tools that enhance its ability to integrate with its digital product suite.

“This included our BlastMap blast design software and our Xplolog data capturing system, as well as our advances in digitising our emulsion trucks,” he said. “It was an important opportunity to show our integration capabilities and our offerings throughout the blast preparation value chain.”

He noted that there had been enthusiastic adoption of BlastMap in the last couple of years, as the market had grown more familiar with its ease of use, integration capability and powerful features. There has also been a significant shift towards strategic collaboration within the digital space, as many players realise the value of sharing aspects of their expertise in the interests of better customer products and solutions.

“In addition to sharing our insights, the ISEE continues to be an important forum for BME to learn more about leading edge developments and to identify potential partners in our technology journey,” he said.

Alberts highlighted that BME has developed specific requirements based on its customer mapping, and seeks out strategic alliances with partners to fulfil the technological opportunities it had identified for success.

BME’s Global Manager Blasting Science, D Scott Scovira, presented a paper on “Breaking the Nitrate Based Explosives Greenhouse – The Dawn of Production Scale Hydrogen Peroxide Emulsion (HPE) for Industrial Blasting” in the ISEE technical sessions. Scovira noted that this year’s technical presentations included more papers by primary researchers and consultants – giving the event a valuable proportion of fundamental research to augment those papers which were more application or product focused.

“The ISEE is a very focused and concentrated conference of blasting professionals,” he emphasised. “This is why BME management and leadership attends this event, to get closer to the end-user and to stay up to date with their changing needs.”

ISEE delegates visiting BME’s exhibition booth were also able to catch up on the company’s developments in North American markets. Alberts said BME was well advanced in preparing for its service contract with a gold miner in Canada, having commissioned its on-site emulsion plant.

“Our exciting infrastructure development is the BME Centre of Excellence outside the town of Nairn Centre, where we have completed our detonator plants,” he said. “Our AXXIS and Viperdet modular lines are now installed and commissioned, and production is to begin shortly.”

An emulsion plant has been completed on the site, with a second being relocated there from another location in Sudbury. The plans for a hydrogen peroxide emulsion plant are also underway. BME Mining Canada is a joint venture of BME and Canada-based mining and construction contractor Consbec.

“With our staff count now at almost 50, we are leveraging our assets and the industry relationships of our strategic partner in building our networks,” he said. “This year is going to be game changing for us, as we step up our capability in the underground space.”

BME enhances blasting control and monitoring with next-generation Xplolog release

Automation, Explosives and blasting, IoT, Mining safety, Mining services, Mining software, , , , , , , , , , ,

Mining solutions specialist BME has released a new version of its Xplolog system for capturing and analysing data on blast holes and decks.

BME – part of Omnia’s mining segment – developed Xplolog as a powerful tool for mines to monitor their block progress in real time, providing the necessary data to track trends and continuously improve the quality of blasts, it says.

The focus in developing this next-generation Xplolog has been the detailed guidance by users, according to Christiaan Liebenberg, BME Product Manager Software Solutions. This has led to making the system more user friendly, scalable and streamlined with other BME digital solutions – while also benefiting from improved data security, the company says.

“We engaged our Xplolog users in a highly systematic way to inform us at every step of our upgrade process,” Liebenberg said. “After our first structured interviews with users, for instance, we developed mock-ups and wireframes that we could take back to the user group for further testing. This approach was even taken into the design and prototype stages, ensuring that the system was in many ways actually built by the users.”

With the design and application code built from the ground up, and with a new and upgraded database using Google’s Cloud Services, the performance of Xplolog has been enhanced. The capacity of the system can also be rapidly increased, allowing better scalability; customers can have a site set up within a matter of hours, according to BME.

Christiaan Liebenberg – BME Product Manager Software Solutions

“Security has been improved through a more robust login and registration process,” Liebenberg said. “There are different user access levels in the new version, giving customers more control over who can access information related to their role in the organisation.

“Users will appreciate how everything is centralised in this version of Xplolog, and how we have improved the workflow for third party blast design uploads in the system.”

The look and feel of Xplolog has been revised in line with the progressive standardising of design across BME’s Blast Alliance digital solutions. This makes users feel familiar with the BME offering, through increased brand identification and continuity of the customer experience with Blast Alliance, Liebenberg said.

“Another important aspect of our upgrade is that users can easily customise their dashboards, creating a personalised view of block information important to the user,” he said.

Customised reports can be created and saved, allowing users to return to that recurring daily, weekly or monthly report each week or month as required. A summary view of block data is visible to track progress at a quick glance for the user.

“We have also given users the ability to better visually track block progress, with the creative use of colours and iconography,” Liebenberg said.

The process of inputting data has been optimised by rationalising the number of steps or actions wherever possible. Importantly, Liebenberg pointed out that Xplolog’s integration with BME’s mobile manufacturing units (MMUs) has taken account of different regional preferences and conditions around the globe.

“The system also provides mines with a digital audit trail, so that they can track operator performance during the drilling and charging phases, as well as provide hole loading information per truck,” he said.

Xplolog is integrated with other BME offerings like its blast planning software Blastmap, and to third-party blast software.

Integrated with BME’s MMUs, Xplolog, BME says, allows the MMU operator to charge and top-up holes accurately from the source application, which will have the latest blast design updates loaded. The actual charged and top-up values from the MMU’s digital panel will automatically be sent back to Xplolog, which will make the data available on the cloud platform for review and analysis.

“Our new version of Xplolog continues to raise the bar in leveraging digital technology,” Liebenberg said. “Our software engineering team continues to add new features and implement continuous improvements as we receive feedback from users of the system in the field – to help mines operate more efficiently, cost-effectively and safely.”

These updates are released to all existing customers of Xplolog every quarter at no additional cost, according to BME.

BME launches Blast Alliance brand to encourage blasting technology collaboration

Environmental, Explosives and blasting, Mining safety, Mining services, Mining software, , , , , , , ,

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 ups blast design ante with new mobile app

Explosives and blasting, IoT, Mining services, Mining software, , , , , , , , , ,

BME has launched a new, free Blasting Guide application for Android mobile devices that, it says, enables users to rapidly calculate and check blast designs.

Currently available for download from the Google Play Store, the new BME Blasting Guide mobile app replaces traditional paper booklets carried and referenced by in-field users, BME says. It includes a blast design calculator, quick calculators and prediction calculators. Other app features include surface blast design rules of thumb, environmental guidelines, a table of common rock properties and a BME contact directory per country.

“The new app is an integral part of BME’s pioneering approach to harnessing the power of digital technology in the blasting sector,” Christiaan Liebenberg, Software Product Manager at BME, said. “This platform gives our Blasting Guide a mobility and ease of use that makes a blasting engineer’s job easier and more productive.”

Liebenberg said that while the app is not a blast design tool, it is a powerful means of verifying blast design outputs and making important blast planning decisions.

BME Global Manager Blasting Science, D Scott Scovira, said the blast design calculator is a series of guiding formulas that allows a blaster or engineer to plan a blast from start to finish.

“The blast design calculator utilises user inputs including burden, spacing, stemming height, sub-drill, hole diameter, bench height and explosive type to determine explosive loads, powder factors and other outputs,” Scovira said. “It could be used, for example, to investigate potential blast patterns for a greenfield site, where numerous scenarios can be quickly generated and calculations checked.”

Scovira added that the rules of thumb table – which summarises surface blast design guidelines – can be referenced by users as they access the blast design calculators.

The quick calculator includes a BME in-house formula for the target powder factor, as well as calculations related to the volume of rock to be blasted – either volume per hole or volume per blast, BME said.

There are energy equations to compare different types of explosives based on their relative bulk strength, while hole-charging equations determine the mass of explosives going into a hole and address loading with gassed emulsion products, according to the company. This helps determine column lengths and stemming lengths – with gassed and ungassed explosives.

“The app’s prediction calculators include estimation of peak particle velocity and maximum charge weight per delay based on industry standard scaled distance equations and user defined ground transmission constants,” BME said.

One of the prediction calculators can provide the user with guidance in estimating the blast clearance radius. This is based on maximum projected rock throw, calculated from scaled depth of burial equations and parameters. The scaled depth of burial equations and parameters are propriety to world recognised blasting consultant R Frank Chiappetta of Blasting Analysis International Inc and used by BME with permission, the company clarified.

“In line with its strategic commitment to collaboration in the digital space, BME engaged VIGA Interactive to create a world-class user experience and design, as well as Sympl Technology Solutions for the development work,” Liebenberg said.