The race to develop a low-cost commercial electronic detonator (ED) dates back to the early 1980s with three South African companies becoming involved, these being Altech, Plessey and African Explosives (AEL), the latter in cooperation with ICI Explosives (UK) which was then an associate company.
The development was driven by several factors, one being that 'misfires' and 'out-of-sequence' firing of conventional detonators caused significant losses in the mining industry. It was also believed that ED systems could be made ultra-safe and would be cheap, given the high volumes of electronic chips. Finally, there was confirmation that blasters would welcome the ability of an electronic system to check out the readiness to fire and to fix any faults before initiation.
The ICI group developed a system which was extensively trialled between 1987 and 1989 but because of the better potential for AEL's product they shelved further development. The Plessey system was later adopted by Sasol Mining Initiators. No company realised the complexity of this development programme and as an example, it took AEL some seven years from the launch of the project to being able to offer its first product to the mines. The first system, known as the ExEx 1000, was extensively trialled at various mines and many shortcomings were identified. By 1993 it was realised that there was a need for a new generation product and this saw the development of the two-wire Smartdet system, which became fully operational during 2000.
During the late '90s the major competitor of AEL was Altech, where the focus was on the use of EDs in the narrow reef market (Smartdet addressed the needs of massive and overcast mining) where simplicity, ease of use and lowest cost were the driving factors. Altech's Detonator Technologies developed the Electrodet system. Altech experienced difficulty in achieving reliability and safety while containing costs and the company decided to exit the market, selling the Electrodet technology to AEL in 1998. As it was a very different product with novel features the development was continued and AEL as a company became unique in being able to sell significant volumes of two very different electronic detonators and both product ranges are still offered. DetNet Solutions (DetNet) was established in 2002 as a company in which AECI consolidated its electronic detonator interests.
While DetNet had the product line it did not have access to the international market and its sales were mainly limited to Africa. Its leading expertise was however, recognised in late 2003 when the parent company AECI (of which AEL is a wholly-owned subsidiary) was approached by the global Norwegian explosives group Dyno Nobel ASA (Dyno Nobel) with the view to establish a 50:50 joint venture company DetNet International. This agreement was finalised in October 2004. Both companies are putting their electronic detonator technology into the new company and while it will be jointly funded by both companies, Dyno Nobel has contributed an initial $7 million. This amount represents the difference between the value of the business and the assets the two companies brought to the venture. This amalgamation has created one of the most competent teams of electronic blasting professionals in the world.
AEL is a leading mining solutions provider to the African mining sector and has operations in 14 countries on the continent with annual revenues in the region of $300m (2004). Dyno Nobel is one of the world's leading commercial explosives companies with operations in 36 countries and revenue of some $1,2 bn. With its global market share for explosives, the opportunities for DetNet are huge. DetNet has produced over 16 million electronic detonators to date (over the last three years volumes have grown from 1 to 2,6 million units) with installed capacity of 10 million per annum. The world market for such products is estimated at 150 million units per year and DetNet International believes that it can capture between 30 and 40%, which would result in the company having to expand its production capability significantly. Initially, all detonators will be manufactured locally and further product development will also reside here. AEL's current plans are to enter into a phased capital expansion programme worth some R90m to increase its detonator manufacturing capability. The new automated facility is expected to expand capacity to some 20 million units per year.
DetNet's current electronic delay detonator systems are Smartdet (which is fully programmable and provides pre-blast testing of all detonators) and Electrodet (pre-programmed). These have been designed to deliver substantial mining benefits such as better fragmentation and greater advance per blast. Above all, the blasting networks and control systems offered by DetNet provide a more reliable centralised blasting capability than any other system available today. During 2004, DetNet was busy introducing a range of detonator products specifically designed to meet the unique demands of particular mining sectors. In terms of ease of use and flexibility, the products have been classified into pre-programmed, auto-programmable and fully-programmable.
The pre-programmed devices are intended for applications where the requirement is ease of use and limited user interaction. The products are characterised by pre-set time delays and easy-to-use daisy chain hook up systems. The auto-programmable system allows users to achieve the precision timing benefits of fully-programmable systems without incurring the higher costs and deployment complexities. DetNet's first auto-programmable system, the HotShot, has functionality in the control equipment to automatically detect the location of the detonators. Users no longer have to log the position of each detector, a time-consuming activity associated with all other types of electronic detonator. At the top end of the scale is the fully-programmable detonator system which allows for each detonator to be individually programmed, such systems being ideal for complex or large scale blasts. They can be programmed to create any blast timing pattern but this advantage has a trade off in that users require extensive training to utilise them effectively.
In addition to DetNet's local products, through the joint venture it has acquired the DigiDet technology that uses an electronic timing module in conjunction with a shock tube.
AEL MD Graham Edwards is quoted as saying that the company could become the best in the world in regard to initiating systems, and with the technology having been proven in Africa, now is the time to roll it out to the rest of the world using the international marketing resources of Dyno Nobel.
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