The theft of explosives by illegal miners presents great danger to society and steps need to be taken to ensure the prevention of such products falling into the wrong hands, says explosives manufacturer AEL Mining Services global mining optimisation manager Simon Tose.
Referring to a recent event that occurred in the East Rand, near Benoni, Ekurhuleni, where illegal miners were caught in possession of ten blasting cartridges, a 10 m detonator fuse and other illegal mining equipment, he adds that this kind of incident also has impact on the community.
“Should such explosives go off accidentally, not only will the illegal miners suffer the consequences, but also anyone who is in the blast radius,” Tose mentions.
He explains that the energy from a single blast has the potential to create significant damage to the ground or surrounding infrastructure, which could collapse. Also, debris thrown from such a blast could cause injury and fatalities as it would be travelling with a high velocity.
Owing to this, stringent processes must be followed in order to ensure accountability all along the supply chain and each and every product should be detailed with a unique identification number and tracked from supplier to end-user.
“Without such a detailed supply chain, it is impossible to track where the explosives originated from and which entity or person last had control of the products at the time of the theft,” Tose mentions.
Moreover, he encourages industry to move away from cartridges to electronic initiators as this could have significant impact on reducing the danger to the public. This is as a result of these products being specially designed with high-quality safety features to ensure that they can only be detonated under authorised measures.