MechChem Africa October 2018

Solar Mining Services’ manufacturing Hub in Middelburg, Mpumalanga Province, where a complete range of accessories and explosives are produced for the mining and quarrying sectors.

Solar Mining Services, a new dynamic entrant into explosives and related services for the mining and quarry sectors in South Africa, offers a tailor-made approach to assist customers in understanding the price curve. Charles Hurly, marketing lead for Solar Mining Services, explains. Staying in business and managing explosive costs

‘incheck’theexplosiveswillperformdownthe borehole much more predictably. Of course, the realmeasurement of a good or brilliant blast canbe complicated to assess, given all the variables. Part of the solution lies in ensuring the quality and reliability of the explosive used, as this can rule out a potential issue attributed to explosive performance. Manufactured quality ‘down-the-hole’ is of paramount importance as this can affect energy values and reliability of detonation, which have bearing on the fragmentation and ‘dig ability’ results. Quarrying operations are no different from companies in, say, the automotive industry. It is the sum of all the components that make for a successful blast. Proper plan- ning, bench preparation, correct drilling and checking of boreholes to planned spacing and depth are the departure point. This is underpinned by an effective timing

“ S olarMining Service’s philosophy is toprice for ‘fit-for-purpose’ where we don’t use a generic pricing model as prescribed by an ammo- nia index but an ammonium nitrate indexed formula that reflects our business model, this to keep the input costs for customers as competitive and transparent as possible,” begins Hurly. The cost of running a quarrying or min- ing business in South Africa is escalating as energy, maintenance, and labour become significantdrivers.Quarryingreliesonvarious inputs and efficiencies based on an accurate budgeted cost per ton for aggregate and ac- ceptable margins from a typically fixed sale price. Costs need to be managed stringently and throughput increased to achieve higher returns. As explosives form a large percent- age of the cost of operations, one needs to understand what defines ‘a good blast’, and its impact on profitability. Using known and consistent values for rawmaterials in themanufacturingprocess of explosives will equate to measurable results. This means that the procurement of vetted raw materials in the manufacturing process for explosives candeliver the consistent qual- ityandcost propositionof thefinal product, so that customers canhave confidence in the ex- plosive products they purchase and that they

perform in a reliable and consistent manner. This allows operations to formadeparture point or baseline to measure improvements and concentrate on other areas that need attention. In explosives, this could include consistency of viscosity, chemical stability of emulsions and predictable velocities of denotation ‘VODs’. If these parameters are all

Improvements in Solar Mining Services’ explosive manufacturing processes include the consistency of viscosity and the chemical stability of the emulsions delivered and the predictable velocities of denotation ‘VODs’.

40 ¦ MechChem Africa • October 2018