The alignment of Omnia Holdings companies BME and Protea Mining Chemicals is set to deliver multiple benefits to mining customers in Australia.
This alignment process will see BME rebranded as BME Blasting Solutions, while Protea Mining Chemicals will be rebranded as BME Metallurgy.
According to BME managing director Ralf Hennecke, this offering will make a significant contribution to the mining value chain – with both rock-breaking and minerals processing solutions.
“The two processes are of course closely linked,” Hennecke said. “The quality of blasting on a mine affects how effectively minerals can be liberated in the process plant.”
Hennecke highlighted the strength of the BME brand globally, as the company is well known as a blasting and explosives provider.
The current brand refresh will simplify the business for the markets that procure explosives and chemicals, allowing the explosive and chemical solutions to be taken one step further.
“With explosives and chemicals, for instance, we offer the customer safety solutions in terms of handling, storage and applications – as well as supply chain solutions for procurement, transportation, handling and storage,” Hennecke said.
“We are communicating with our markets over the coming months to ensure that there is a good understanding of what BME stands for.”
Hennecke noted that given BME’s global footprint, this alignment creates opportunities to expand the chemicals business in Australia where BME already has a strong presence
“Diversification in the solutions we provide is key to our success, leveraging our strong customer relationships over a wider jurisdiction,” he said. “Our blasting solutions can in future be complemented by our capabilities in optimising mineral liberation for customers.”
This aligns strongly with Omnia’s purpose of innovating to enhance life, and of creating a greener future.
With both BME Blasting Solutions and BME Metallurgy contributing to sustainable and cost-effective mineral liberation, they contribute positively to creating urban infrastructure for a prosperous future.
“Omnia acknowledges that we are playing a vital role in achieving their value statement,” Hennecke said.
The value proposition from the alignment is not just for customers, he said, but also for employees.
“The current process is leading us towards being an employer of choice, as our explosives engineers are now learning more about chemical processing, while the metallurgists understand more about the field of blasting rock,” Hennecke said.
“The connections here are helping our people to grow their expertise and opportunities, making the company an even more attractive place to work.”
BME has been present in Australia for the past decade, building a foundation on which it has now become the first local manufacturer of electronic detonators in Western Australia, according to BME Australia general manager Michael Wiseman.
Image: BME
“Local production brings significant supply chain security and logistical benefits to our Australian mining customers,” Wiseman said.
As Australia’s mining sector embraces safer, automated solutions in blasting, there has been a significant shift away from shock tubes, towards electronic detonators. Trials of AXXIS electronic detonators in Western Australia have yielded positive results.
The company’s first decade in Australia focused on importing and marketing its premium AXXIS electronic initiation system.
