Modern Mining January 2017

COVER STORY

looked at – and evaluated – other systems but chose ours based on its capabilities, its high level of safety and its competitive price.” Keenan notes that AXXIS’s abilities were well demonstrated in early 2016, when Daunia coal mine in Queensland, Australia broke the world record for the largest electronic detonator blast ever. The blast saw 5 665 deto- nators in 2 683 blastholes being fired using the AXXIS system. The blast was prepared and carried out by Daunia mine staff using a single initiation point and one master control box. To design the blast, the Daunia team made use of BME’s blast design software, BlastMap III, which was devel- oped as an integral part of the AXXIS system and which allows complex timing designs and analy- sis of blast results. The AXXIS system has also been used in Singapore to allow

is still subdued but there’s a high level of min- ing activity in West Africa, notably in gold, while the Zambian Copperbelt, where we have secured a significant new contract at an open- cast mine, is also looking good, as is the DRC.” BME has traditionally derived the major part of its revenues from opencast mining, in which it is arguably the market leader, but Keenan notes that its efforts to increase its sales to underground mines are starting to bear fruit. “Our underground bulk technology has really progressed,” he observes. “We’ve

high precision, minimum vibration blasting in a built-up area as part of the work on the city’s mass rapid transport rail system. The tim- ing flexibility of the system has supported the detonation of small, multiple charges in each blasthole to keep vibration levels down while the accuracy of the timing between individual charges has allowed vibrations to be predicted accurately and reliably. Turning to BME’s overall performance in recent months, Keenan says there is no deny- ing that market conditions are challenging. “Nevertheless, BME has proved its resil- ience,” he says. “If you look at the results for Omnia Holdings for the six months ended 30 September, 2016, the Mining division – which comprises BME and Protea Mining Chemicals – grew revenue by 9,3 % to R2,45 bil- lion, although profitability was down by 8,2 %. “We’re positive on the outlook,” he con- tinues. “Obviously, there are uncertainties surrounding Brexit in the UK and the election of a new President in the US but the commodity cycle is showing signs of improvement. If you look at iron ore, manganese and copper, they’ve all increased quite nicely in price although they’re still way off their highs. Also encourag- ing is the increase in exploration activity – in particular, diamond drilling – we’re seeing in Africa, which normally presages an upturn in mining activity. “Geographically, the South African market

An aerial view from a camera mounted to a small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) clearly showing the hole positions in the drill pattern.

Operator filling an emulsion bag for BME’s portable emulsion charging unit.

January 2017  MODERN MINING  19