{"id":20208,"date":"2022-10-05T09:18:15","date_gmt":"2022-10-05T09:18:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/bmes-axxis-silver-debuts-at-sub-zero-lesotho-mine"},"modified":"2022-10-05T09:44:16","modified_gmt":"2022-10-05T09:44:16","slug":"bmes-axxis-silver-debuts-at-sub-zero-lesotho-mine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/bmes-axxis-silver-debuts-at-sub-zero-lesotho-mine","title":{"rendered":"BME\u2019s AXXIS Silver debuts at sub-zero Lesotho mine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>In the mountain kingdom of Lesotho, explosives and blasting specialist BME recently achieved the first blast outside of South Africa with its new AXXIS Silver electronic initiation system.<\/p>\n<p>BME \u2013 a member company of JSE-listed Omnia Group \u2013 is assisting a diamond mining customer to conduct quality blasts in all weather conditions. BME AXXIS support manager Hennie du Preez says BME has been active on this mine since 2016.<\/p>\n<p>Located at an altitude of over 3 000 m, the operation frequently experiences snow and sub-zero temperatures. \u201cThis means blasting under challenging conditions, including extreme cold, snow and ice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBME provides everything from the emulsion explosive to the detonation equipment, which all continues to function well under these conditions,\u201d Du Preez points out.<\/p>\n<p>The AXXIS Silver initiation system employed at the mine is noted to be a leaner version of BME\u2019s flagship product AXXIS Titanium. The company conducts the priming, logging and firing of the blasts and ensures a regular supply of emulsions to the site.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAmong the benefits of AXXIS Silver is its thin, copper-cladded downline wire, which de-coils easily for use in small diameter holes \u2013 even when they are waterlogged.<\/p>\n<p>Due to their robust quality, our electronic detonators were able to remain in the holes for two days before blasting, in temperatures below zero where the hole collars froze solid,\u201d says Du Preez.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the conditions, there were no issues encountered with the wire or the connector. BME\u2019s latest logger, the TDC 600, also performed as normal in these cold and wet conditions, with no signs of screen lagging.<\/p>\n<p>Its battery lasted the entire duration of the logging and the firing of the blast. \u201cWe kept our blasting boxes in the vehicle until blasting time, and they switched on without any problems.<\/p>\n<p>Neither did the cold conditions cause any sluggishness of the screens,\u201d Du Preez says. He confirms that firing the blast went ahead as planned, with smooth communication between the logger and the blasting boxes.<\/p>\n<p>In the final communication check, there was no instability detected. \u201cThis was another confirmation of the resilience of our system in cold climates and freezing weather.<\/p>\n<p>We have had AXXIS successfully tested in the US for operating in temperatures below -40 \u00b0C, in anticipation of growing business opportunities in the US and Canada,\u201d he outlines.<\/p>\n<p>AXXIS Silver allows up to 1 800 holes to be detonated in a single blast, initiated from two blast boxes linked. Du Preez mentions that mines are increasingly asking for larger blasts to reduce downtime from pit stoppages during blasting.<\/p>\n<p>BME is expecting to apply AXXIS Titanium in the Lesotho operation, which can raise the number of detonators in a single blast to 20 000 \u2013 or 20 blast boxes firing up to 1 000 detonators each.<\/p>\n<p>An added benefit of the copper-cladded wire, notes Du Preez, is that the steel wire responds to a magnetic field. After a blast, this allows remnants of wire in the blasted material to be removed by magnetic separators on the conveyor belts before entering the crushing and milling phases.<\/p>\n<p>It thus prevents potential damage to comminution equipment and contamination of mined material. BME has also been supplying various Lesotho mines with up to 500 t of emulsion explosive each month, as the mining operation has expanded over time.<\/p>\n<p>This involves the monthly movement of over 15 tankers through steep mountain passes to keep the mine supplied with fresh emulsion. A three-day stock of BME\u2019s double-salt emulsion is kept on the mine.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\">Lesotho<\/a> Follow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/\">Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Lesotho. In the mountain kingdom of Lesotho, explosives and blasting specialist BME recently achieved the first blast outside of South Africa with its new AXXIS Silver electronic initiation system. BME \u2013 a member company of JSE-listed Omnia Group \u2013 is assisting a diamond mining customer to conduct quality blasts in all weather conditions. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":20207,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6,8,16],"tags":[233,246,245],"class_list":["post-20208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","category-homepage-english","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>BME\u2019s AXXIS Silver debuts at sub-zero Lesotho mine - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In the mountain kingdom of Lesotho, explosives and blasting specialist BME recently achieved the first blast outside of ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/bmes-axxis-silver-debuts-at-sub-zero-lesotho-mine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BME\u2019s AXXIS Silver debuts at sub-zero Lesotho mine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the mountain kingdom of Lesotho, explosives and blasting specialist BME recently achieved the first blast outside of ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/bmes-axxis-silver-debuts-at-sub-zero-lesotho-mine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-10-05T09:18:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-10-05T09:44:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_8-633d51d87e631.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1022\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"575\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/bmes-axxis-silver-debuts-at-sub-zero-lesotho-mine#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/bmes-axxis-silver-debuts-at-sub-zero-lesotho-mine\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"BME\u2019s AXXIS Silver debuts at sub-zero Lesotho mine\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-10-05T09:18:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-10-05T09:44:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/bmes-axxis-silver-debuts-at-sub-zero-lesotho-mine\"},\"wordCount\":588,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/bmes-axxis-silver-debuts-at-sub-zero-lesotho-mine#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_8-633d51d87e631.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"Lesotho\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"files\",\"homepage-english\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/bmes-axxis-silver-debuts-at-sub-zero-lesotho-mine#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/bmes-axxis-silver-debuts-at-sub-zero-lesotho-mine\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/bmes-axxis-silver-debuts-at-sub-zero-lesotho-mine\",\"name\":\"BME\u2019s AXXIS Silver debuts at sub-zero Lesotho mine - 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