AEL Mining Services (Pty) Limited - Gaborone - Botswana

In Botswana, AEL Mining Services (Pty) Limited strives to meet their customers’ needs through maintaining the highest level of safety and improving blasting efficiency in order to lower final cost per unit of mineral produced.

AEL has supplied explosives, accessories and support to Botswana’s mining industry since 1973, when it was first registered as a local business entity with the registrar of companies. Since that time, the company has undergone numerous name changes to the present AEL Mining Services (Pty) Limited.

During 1981, AEL partnered with Debswana Diamond Company (Pty) Ltd to establish local bulk explosives manufacturing facilities at Jwaneng and then later at Orapa. Since then, AEL has upgraded its manufacturing technology on numerous occasions. In 1999, AEL established a permanent managerial and sales support office in Botswana and upgraded this to a fully-fledged autonomous commercial business in 2001.

Today, AEL has emulsion manufacturing plants at Orapa Central Plant and Jwaneng Mine and explosive distribution sites at Orapa and Letlhakane mines. In September 2009 AEL started a Prime-Load-Tie-in Shoot (PLTS) service at Jwaneng Mine’s Cut 8 Pit Expansion project, and in October 2010, the company diversified its business footprint by commencing the supply of explosives to the four BCL Mining and Smelting (Copper/Nickel) mines and also started a PLTS service at Firestone Diamonds’ BK11 Mine.

As a result of these additional business contracts, AEL Mining Services increased its total complement from about 37 in 2010 to the current 75 employees of which 69 are local Botswana citizens and continues to be committed to employee training, development, social upliftment and advancement.

Customers include leading diamond mines and copper/nickel mines and also various quarry operations supplied through a local distributor. The company offers the full range of explosive services from distribution, magazines service, down-the-hole supply, to PLTS, as well as blast engineering support, such as audits and designs.

AEL Mining Services is full SABS ISO compliant, and has implemented water recycling programs at its sites.

All open pit operations make use of AEL’s electronic detonator initiation systems and two of AEL’s customers are fully converted to the Automated Blast Loading and Reporting System that uses Global Positioning System (GPS) to locate blast holes.

Applications
Using world-class technologies, AEL unearths wealth in the countries in which it operates, providing world class mining solutions in all key mining, quarrying and construction applications, including:

• Open cut – diamonds, platinum, copper
• Open cast – coal, iron ore, manganese
• Underground massive – diamond, nickel
• Underground narrow reef – gold, platinum, uranium
• Dimensional stone quarrying
• Aggregate stone quarrying

Products
AEL offers the latest generation products and service offerings for blasting operations. These include electronic detonators, centralised blasting systems, shock tube systems, boosters, detonator cords, capped fuse, igniter cord and blasting accessories.

AEL produces and supplies ammonium nitrate and ammonium nitrate solution from its own manufacturing plants. AEL’s bulk emulsion manufacturing plants provides the group with the capacity to produce and deliver timeously, even when volume demand increases. AEL also supplies a comprehensive range of packaged explosives.

AEL deploys in-house engineering competency to design and build Mobile Manufacturing Units (MMUs) for surface and underground mining, bulk emulsion manufacturing plants and modular initiating systems assembly plants.

Services
AEL deploys blasting services that extract optimum value from any blasting operation with its blend of products, services and solutions. These include:

• Down the hole services, prime load tie and shoot (PLTS), rock on ground contracting, blast optimisation
• On mine site bulk emulsion manufacturing plants and associated down the blast hole delivery platforms
• Underground mobile and static emulsion pumping systems.
• Mining optimisation offers blast monitoring, design, timing, fragmentation analysis, basic blasting principle training, technology conversion, explosive engineering diploma, i-Mining mining productivity program and blasting consulting services.