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Giving back blasting power to the customer

{{image2-a:r-w:200}}Johnex is a company seeking to think outside the box. This is not so much through a new form of explosive materials as through applying a proven method in a new format. It has been developed because Johnex believes its customers should have much more control over their own blasting schedules.

Johnex aims for its Ezipump DV product to be prepared on-site; nothing new in that, but what is new is that the company is supplying and preparing a fleet of trucks for the end user to carry and deliver the product.

?We believe the customer is often far too reliant on explosives companies that dictate to the customer when they can have their truck and when they can pump their blast,? said Johnex?s national business manager Kerry Hughes, who has spent more than 33 years in the industry as a supplier and end user of mining explosives.

?We don?t own the truck, the owner of the mine or the contractor himself owns the truck and he can come and get the emulsion at any time he wants on his own timetable ? seven days a week. By doing that he has full control of when he can do his own blasting.?

A fleet of vehicles capable of pumping Johnex?s Ezipump DV product is being manufactured to the company?s specifications and will be available in various customer-specific configurations. The truck and its control cabinet, simplified with built-in redundant systems, are passed to a new owner with full, comprehensive and ongoing training.

{{image3-a:r-w:200}}Johnex has approached several mines and quarry contractors around the nation to advise them of its Ezipump bulk emulsion program. Johnex has the ability to supply the service to both the east and west coasts of Australia.

Cardross Mining has embraced Johnex?s new philosophy and has just ordered a new truck, a DAF with a 14-tonne capability, after trialling a smaller unit.

?We ended up putting a road legal 14-tonne unit on that one (DAF) and what Cardross has done is send the smaller unit back to us to be upgraded with all the electronics and smarts from the second truck,? Hughes said.

Johnex went through an extensive program with Cardross Mining when it first trialled its service.

?Our MD and our CEO are experienced men in this area and those two gentlemen spent about six weeks in the initial introduction in the field … they were actually on the truck,? Hughes explained.

?The end result is that everything they learnt in that six weeks went into the second truck and the control board, everything is extremely simple on the second truck.?

Adjustments were made in that six week trial but there was no adjustment to the formulation because it was spot on for the emulsion itself.

{{image4-a:r-w:200}}The real adjustments were mainly on the truck, such as getting the gassing application correct, because it uses different technology in its gassing to more mainstream versions.

?As far as practically possible you cannot pump what the industry would call a flat blast,? Hughes said. ?You can?t do that because the pressure in your pipe will back up to a degree that it just simply won?t clear.?

TAKING CHARGE OF YOUR SCHEDULE
Hughes believes there are money and time saving aspects that make Johnex?s program better than the traditional system, in which a mine or quarry would employ an explosives supplier or contractor to supply the vehicle and explosives on a contract basis.

?We?ve found that, by comparison, within a year you?re already winning over and above anything the opposition is putting into the field,? Hughes said. ?For instance, if you were to take our truck over a three year period, depending on where you are and what configuration you want, it?ll cost you approximately $25,000 per month over that three year period.

?After that three year period that?s it done and dusted, it?s yours. Others will charge you $70,000 to $80,000 a month because their trucks are so complicated you need somebody from the company on the truck itself to operate it.

?So by doing that, they?re charging $70,000 to $80,0000 a month for the use of the truck, then you?re dictated to by the company as to when you can use the truck.

{{image5-a:r-w:200}}?The bottom line is that each month you?re going to be out of pocket by up to $70,000 or $80,000 and you haven?t got anything in the hole yet.?

So far this option is only viable for larger companies or contractors. Hughes added that Johnex?s program could be adopted by mining or quarrying operations, depending on the volume of work.

?We believe that for any operation ? whether that be a contractor, quarry, mine, anyone doing more than 70 to 80 tonnes of emulsion a month ? it becomes viable,? he said.

?The new truck is capable, it probably maxes out at 400 to 450 tonnes a month of pumping ability. So if you?re a contractor and you have one of these trucks, you have huge scope.?

Hughes says the program will not necessarily suit small operations because the cost of the infrastructure on the truck will be high, so it is better for them to employ a contractor.

?I?d love to be able to get a Toyota ute and put a little unit on the back of that and service the smaller guys and say, ?Here it is for you?, but the unfortunate thing is that the pumps and everything like that won?t cope with something as small as a one tonne ute,? he said.

About Johnex

Johnex Explosives is the family company of the Johnsons, who have been operating in the explosives business for more than 60 years.
Based in Perth, this wholly owned Australian company is at the forefront of producing and developing products suited to the nation?s
mining industry.

{{image6-a:r-w:200}}Over the years the company has supplied and developed explosives for surface and underground mining.

Initially, Johnex was a distributor of dynamite and blasting accessories before it expanded into the production of ammonium nitrate/fuel oil and water gel slurries, followed by a range of coiled patented explosives for underground production blasting.

The company offers a full range of commercial explosives and accessories to suit all types of blasting, including quarry, open pit and
civil works.

By monitoring global advancements in new explosive technologies, Johnex keeps its products up to date; its knowledge of the local industry means it develops those products, enabling them to be better suited to Australian conditions.

Johnex has manufacturing facilities at Kalgoorlie (Western Australia), Charters Towers (Queensland) and Bogan Gate (New South Wales), with distribution depots in NSW and Tasmania.

What?s the product?

The Johnex Ezipump DV is a primer-sensitive pumped emulsified explosive. It is a water-in-oil emulsion with a similar viscosity to grease.

Ezipump DV has exceptional water resistance and is intended for use in surface operations. It is manufactured on-site from a Johnex designed mobile processing unit, which combines Ezipump ANE emulsion with Ezigasser to deliver the product into the blast holes.

Ezipump ANE is a precursor (Class 5.1) that can be stored up to 90 days and is used to make Ezipump DV (Class 1.5D) with Ezigasser just prior to charging. This sensitises the Ezipump ANE and it reduces the requirement for magazine storage.

Ezipump DV has good water resistance. Its relative bulk strength can be increased or decreased, depending on the hole diameter and Ezipump DV density and can be done on-site to suit requirements.

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