Increasing the in-house manufacturing of its mobile mining units (MMUs) is helping explosives supplier BME to further improve its client service levels and market penetration in Africa.
BME has been custom-building its MMUs using its own facilities and outsourcing its manufacturing needs to keep up with demand.
“Our rapid growth in African markets has given us the opportunity to add more capa- city to manufacture in-house and we have also streamlined our processes so that we can cut lead times dramatically,” says BME senior manager of operations Tinus Strauss.

Although the company has always manufactured most of its MMUs, long lead times from external engineering suppliers were creating a bottleneck for the fast-growing company. Owing to strategic investments over the last few years, BME can currently produce more than 50 units a year from its factory in Middelburg, Mpumalanga, he notes.
The trucks can deliver any formulation, such as pure emulsion explosives, doped emulsion, heavy ammonium nitrate and fuel oil (ANFO) to mining sites. This provides the logistical backbone to the mine’s supply line of the required explosive blend.
The two truck types – emulsion units and heavy ANFO units – are built to exacting design specifications, as BME is accredited by the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) as a body builder. The SABS also certifies each unit before it is commissioned.

Using a standard cab-chassis sourced from established truck manufacturers, the company has been refining its MMU design and components to produce a highly efficient on-site solution for opencast mining operations.
“BME’s core business is blasting, so we systematically gather feedback from our teams in the field to constantly improve what we design and build,” says Strauss.

With more than two decades of experience in engineering these trucks, the company has become an expert in customising each one to suit the particular mining application.
BME’s operations in African countries, which include Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Mali, Mauritania and the Demo- cratic Republic of Congo, are often at remote locations, demanding special attention to logistics and ease of maintenance.
“We have ensured that our MMUs not only deliver quality service to our blasting teams on site but are also robust and as simple as possible to work on. “This helps keep availability high by reducing the chance of downtime,” he adds.
Skills sharing by BME experts also boosts the technical ability of on-site mechanics and ensures the units’ longevity.
“At our mining sites in Africa, we support the local mechanics by providing our own specialised technicians to share expertise and provide training in the maintenance of the MMUs,” Strauss notes.
To ensure that replacement parts are readily available on site, BME has also put its own regular transport channels in place to reach Southern African operations. The high levels of local content in the units make it easier to source service parts and contribute substantially to the health of the local engineering sector.