Spotlight Feature Articles Hexagon Explosives & Blasting Aug 16 | Page 7

EXPLOSIVES AND BLASTING Hanwha says its lowdensity range is creating quite a lot of customer interest and success where it is being used Hanwha offers a broad range of bulk explosives, but in particular, Kennedy says its low-density range is creating quite a lot of customer interest and success where it is being used. Kennedy states: “Broadly speaking if a mine could use low cost ANFO, it would. The introduction of water in the hole adds substantial cost in generic high density emulsion based products. Our hybrid range provides water proof explosives at densities towards ideal ANFO whilst not compromising on effective energy. This is compelling in total cost management for our customers. These low-density products can be loaded below the density typically deployed by other players. The industry is becoming far more aware of cost per hole, not just cost per tonne, hence truly evaluating the real total cost. Our bulk range is a market leader on this key metric.” The low-density products offer customers the ability to achieve the desired outcomes using less explosives. “We have simple calculators for our customers to use in any evaluation which clearly demonstrates this point of difference. These products also remove the variability of chemical gassing and enable stemming and decking directly after loaded with no wait times.” Also, these products have an inherent stability, which leads to excellent fume control. In addition, Hanwha does not operate large-scale ammonium nitrate plants and therefore is unconstrained when offering customers products which are less reliant on porous ammonium nitrate prills. Kennedy adds: “Technology is still very important to customers, but they do not want to pay for excessive R&D programs, nor should they. I think technology is better in the blasthole and not sitting in a laboratory. Also running businesses with lean structures in line with our customers is something that we think is important. Nobody can afford to carr