Mining explosives producer Sasol Nitro is introducing two new-generation products.

The first is a centralised blasting system, known as SafeBlast, and the second an 
instantaneous electronic shocktube-starting detonator called SafeStart.

The centralised blasting system, used 
together with the instantaneous electronic detonator, offers improved levels of safety and reliability over blasting operations in underground mines, Sasol Nitro MD Marius Brand tells Mining Weekly.

It is designed primarily to blast shocktube systems yet can be adapted to fuse systems.

It has a centralised control system that feeds a signal optically or in hard-wired form to the initiation system.

“All blasting operations have to be performed under strict control and supervision, but the centralised blasting system creates the opportunity for blasting to be remotely 
activated, further reducing exposure of mining employees to the blasting activity,” says Brand.

It is said to improve control over seismicity, reduce incidents of gassing and result 
in fewer lost blasts, as well as to improve the facilitation of synchronisation of all blasting activity within the mining area.

“Mining houses have shown high interest in Sasol Nitro’s newest product, especially from a safety and accuracy of blasting point of view,” Brand adds.

The instantaneous electronic detonator replaces conventional detonators previously 
used as starter detonators.

The new electronic starter detonators do not respond to caplamp voltages or underground power supplies and are also impervious to the discharge of static electricity, electromagnetic interference and general overvoltages.

South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources and the South African Bureau of Standards have elected a working committee to draft new specifications and standards for the centralised blasting system and, while these are being drafted, the product has been granted temporary approval.

Sasol Nitro has also secured intellectual-property protection for a new management information system upgrade which feeds 
information gained from the centralised 
blasting system to mine management 
systems.

The information management system 
development is an addendum to the new suite of products, again with the control room on surface controlling underground blasting, where each working area has a 
cable-linked keypad interface with the 
remote blasting, units. 
Mine management would, through the use of the integrated information management system, be able to monitor the number of tons blasted and the quantity of metal or mineral produced to indicate mine performance in real time.

“A single electronic starter clicks on to a shocktube,” he explains.

Sasol Nitro’s explosives business is built on the use of 
ammonia being produced as part of Sasol’s coal-to-liquids and gas-to-chemicals processes. 
From ammonia, ammonium 
nitrate is produced, which is the building block for the Sasol Nitro explosives and fertilisers businesses.