Modern Mining September 2025

EXPLOSIVES & BLASTING

Blasting innovation helps mines meet ESG imperatives Omnia Holdings company BME’s focus on sustainability is helping mines to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, as well as improve water stewardship and waste management.

Innovex 100 manufacturing with used oil formulation.

D r Ramesh Dhoorgapersadh, General Manager for operations on the environment. “Investors and shareholders are increasingly also assessing the performance of mining companies on their ability to meet environmental and social governance principles and holding them accountable,” he said at a recent customer webinar on sustainable mining. The company’s dual-salt emulsions are one example of how BME is helping mines to better manage waste, water and GHGs. This is by reducing the release of harmful nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide emissions into the atmosphere and preventing the leaching of nitrates into surface and groundwater. Dr Rakhi Pathak, Global Manager for Strategic Partnerships at BME, said that, by carefully balancing oxidiser and fuel, the company’s dual salt emulsions do not generate harmful gases upon detonation. “They also contain significantly lower nitrate levels,” she said. “Manufactured at , relatively lower operating temperatures, we use less energy in our processes, in turn, effectively reducing energy consumption.” For more than 40 years, BME’s dual salt emulsions have Operational Excellence and Safety, Health, Environment, Risk and Quality (SHERQ) at BME, said that sustainability was no longer just about mitigating impacts of mining

BME’s wide variety of formulations using virgin oil and used oil technology.

34  MODERN MINING  www.modernminingmagazine.co.za | SEPTEMBER 2025