Tag Archives: D Scott Scovira

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.”

Omnia and Hypex Bio to showcase HPE-based explosive benefits at ISEE conference

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

The potential of hydrogen peroxide emulsion (HPE) to reduce explosives emissions will come under the spotlight at the upcoming 50th Conference of the International Society of Explosives Engineers (ISEE) in USA.

In a paper to be presented jointly by Omnia group company BME and strategic partner Hypex Bio Explosives Technology (Hypex Bio), the authors will explain the benefits of HPE in reducing atmospheric and aqueous pollutants associated with blasting. Titled ‘Breaking the Nitrate-Based Explosives Greenhouse: The Dawn of Production-Scale HPE for Industrial Blasting’, the presentation is expected to generate considerable interest among blasting professionals meeting in Savannah, Georgia, USA from January 24-27.

“The past decade has seen renewed interest in HPE as a route to eliminating NOx fumes from blasting,” D Scott Scovira, BME’s Global Manager Blasting Science and Engineering, said. “As more companies have committed to the COP26 goals of Net Zero by 2050, there has been additional impetus to investigate hydrogen peroxide based explosives for industrial use.”

Scovira highlighted that HPE contains no nitrates and does not generate post-blast NOx. It also generates no aqueous nitrate or ammonia pollution, so also contributes to meeting increasingly regulated mine site water discharge limits.

Hypex Bio has recently developed the formulation, manufacture and end-use delivery of a hydrogen peroxide based emulsion on an industrial scale. According to Thomas Gustavsson, CEO of Hypex Bio, in Stockholm, Sweden, this emulsion is composed primarily of hydrogen peroxide, with a lesser amount of fuel and emulsifier phase. The performance of HPE has proved to be as good as nitrate-based emulsions, and is compatible with current priming and initiation systems, according to the company.

“We recently conducted a successful underground HPE evaluation with a major mining company in Sweden,” Gustavsson said. “HPE blast designs were the same as those done with nitrate-based emulsions, and we achieved equivalent rock breakage, advance, muck displacement and excavator performance.”

He added that the ventilation and re-entry times were reduced during this evaluation, due to the absence of hazardous fumes. The mining company has expressed further interest in assessing HPE as a transformative explosive technology. Gustavsson also highlighted that the production of HPE was energy efficient.

“The base HPE is produced in a low energy intensity modular plant using industry proven mixing techniques,” he explained. “In contrast, the production of ammonium nitrate (AN) emulsion is relatively energy-intensive and not carbon neutral.”

HPE offers a significant reduction in total carbon emission when compared with nitrate-based explosives, he continued. Based on the European Union average and for the oxidiser phase only, 1 kg of AN emulsion emits 2.3 kg of carbon dioxide; in comparison, the production of HPE results in just 0.23 kg of carbon dioxide – a 90% difference.

Omnia entered into its strategic partnership with Hypex Bio in October 2023, and holds a minority equity stake in the company.

BME brings technical blasting services online

Comminution of minerals, Explosives and blasting, Mining services, Mining techniques, , ,

Omnia Group company, BME, says it is now providing technical blasting services online, giving the industry access to experienced specialists through virtual consultations and solutions.

The service is an important part of BME’s recently upgraded website, according to the company’s Global Manager for Blasting Science, D Scott Scovira.

“Our online technical blasting service is provided not only by BME’s in-house technical staff, but it is also in association with other recognised third-party specialists in blasting, mining and construction,” Scovira said. “The initial online consultation to discuss and scope out a blasting project is at no charge, and the service is not limited to existing BME clients only.”

The range of services offered include blast fragmentation distribution prediction for surface greenfield sites, fragmentation distribution optimisation for supporting mine-to-mill initiatives at established surface and underground sites, and rock characterisation and specifications for blasting in hot or reactive ground. The team are also able to provide solutions related to highwall blast design and management, as well as novel and disruptive blast design and mining methods, it said.

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.

BME looks to improve load and haul efficiency with new BLASTMAP tool

Comminution of minerals, Explosives and blasting, IoT, Mining consumables, Mining services, Mining software, , , , , , , , ,

As part of its continuous development of digital solutions, BME says it has further enhanced its BLASTMAP™ blast planning tool with an added burden relief timing module.

D Scott Scovira, Global Manager Blasting Science at BME, said this new burden relief feature gives the blaster better control over the shape and movement of the blasted rock muck pile, adding that this has knock-on benefits for the excavation fleet.

“If the mine is using a loader and truck fleet, for instance, the blasted rock will need to be laid out lower – and longer burden relief times tend to be used in the blast,” he said. “For a truck and shovel configuration, on the other hand, the muck pile would need to be stacked up higher, usually requiring tighter burden relief times.”

The new feature augments a range of BLASTMAP tools that have added value to BME’s customers for many years, integrating with BME’s AXXIS™ and XPLOLOG™ systems, the company said.

AXXIS allows blast technicians to program a detonator with the desired time delay, while XPLOLOG allows users to view, capture and sync drill and blast data to a cloud database for real-time access to preparation progress on the blast block.

BLASTMAP allows for initiation timing design, initiation sequence simulation, blasthole loading design, fragmentation distribution predictions, vibration prediction and blasted rock range prediction.

BME said: “While initiation timing design enables the design of blast initiation sequences and facilitates programming of the AXXIS system, the initiation sequence simulation allows the user to check for correct hole firing sequence and pick up any potential out-of-sequence firings. The blasthole loading design module – covering the explosive load, booster and initiation system – is also capable of designing decked hole loading.”

For fragmentation prediction – where one of three equations may be chosen – the software allows site-specific or general rock properties to be entered into an editable rock properties database, according to BME. Additionally, the fragmentation models may be calibrated with data from physical fragmentation distribution measurements.

Scovira said: “Fragmentation distribution is vital to quality blasting, going hand in hand with a mine’s machine productivity in loading and hauling. One step further is to optimise fragmentation distribution for the crushing and milling circuit, to improve throughput and recoveries.”

The vibration prediction tool, which generates a predictive isomap of vibration levels around the blast, ensures that blast vibrations do not exceed regulatory or self-imposed environmental constraints, the company said. BLASTMAP also includes an advance through-seam design module, to design explosive loads and initiation times in multiple dipping coal strata.

And BLASTMAP can use data from a range of sources, according to Tinus Strauss, Senior Software Engineer at BME.

“Data can easily be imported from third-party software through our import wizard,” Strauss said. “This allows any text-based file to be used – as well as specific formats like DXF files – conveying data on parameters such as block-out lines on benches, hole depths and charge.”