Mine explosives company BME – an Omnia subsidiary – has commissioned a shocktube production plant in Losberg, in the North West province, in an 
effort to improve its service offering to the mining industry.

The company has been 
researching and developing the technology for a number of years and has been using it extensively in surface mining applications.

BME production director Dawie Mynhardt reports that the establishment of the facility is a big step for the company as it can now offer the industry a safer alternative to fuse igniter cord.

With shocktube blasting, the tube acts as a signal transmitter between the detonators in each blasthole. The hollow tube is lined with a fine layer of explosive powder. 
When lit, this powder detonates and generates a pressure wave that travels down the tube to the detonator in the explosives in the hole.

With conventional fuse-and-igniter-cord technology, the disadvantages are that the blasthole firing times can be inaccurate. 
Ideally, in a blast, it is best to have all holes firing as closely as possible to their designed firing times; this is very hard to achieve with fuse technology as fuses burn at variable speeds. 
This may result in poor fragmentation, hanging-wall damage and an uneven face advance.

BME blasting technology 
director Tony Rorke reports that the company is now driving the shocktube technology for underground applications as a priority.

The Losberg production facility is situated near Carltonville, which is famous for housing 
some of the deepest mines in the world.

Shocktube technology has been used extensively in opencast 
applications, but the company’s 
underground market share is 
relatively modest.

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