Johannesburg - South Africa - AEL Mining Services, an international leader and innovator in commercial explosives and blasting solutions, unveiled its largest ever, new generation E-20T Mobile Manufacturing Units (MMU) to customers and media at an event held at the group's head office in Modderfontein, Johannesburg on the 8th October 2009. The E-20T MMU is capable of pumping or augering bulk emulsions and ANFO to produce explosives in blast holes at surface mining operations.

AEL's extensive range of bulk emulsions, which complement the new E-20T MMU, was also highlighted at the launch, along with a new modified ECO-range.

Development of the E-20T

The new E-20T MMU was developed and designed within AEL, and is evidence of the company's research and development capabilities to meet the needs of its customers in the surface mining sector. The current range of 12 tonne MMU vehicles in the field was designed during the mid-1990s, and although have proven to be excellent and reliable in the field, the technology and materials have changed significantly to warrant a total redesign.

The new E-20T on and off road trucks were developed in response to the need for a more cost efficient solution, which delivers a higher payload on bench in a quicker turnaround time, resulting in time and cost savings for customers.

According to Steven Burke, AEL's Equipment Services manager, a new design using different materials and parameters was required to meet the challenges of increasing the unit's legal road mass to carry more load, while simultaneously reducing the bin mass. "From an engineering perspective, we wanted to reduce the parts' count, labour hours and welding metres to fabricate the components, without compromising on quality, safety, and durability, which have been the hallmark of our 12 tonne MMUs.

"The new E-20T features an 8x8 or 8x4 chassis to accommodate a larger payload. The bins, which were custom-designed with roll-over protection to prevent spillage, are manufactured from stainless steel and designed to last through two seven year prime mover cycles. The trucks are suitable for rugged conditions in quarrying and surface mining operations."

Burke adds, “AEL subcontracted all the fabrication of the stainless steel components, hydraulics and electrical installations under local design specifications. The units underwent Finite Element Analysis before assembly and testing at AEL's Modderfontein plant, ensuring compliance with SABS standards, road-tanker legislation, as well as the internationally recognised US-based ADR standard. The ADR recognition allows AEL to tender and deliver on a global basis.”

Currently AEL has a fleet of over 200 MMUs in the field in South Africa, Botswana, DRC, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Egypt, Kenya, as well as in Indonesia.

"We manage our fleet of MMUs in the field," adds Burke, "and have a comprehensive Replacement Programme, which will replace the older MMUs with the new generation E-20T units when the appropriate mileage and years are reached. We have recently delivered one E-20T vehicle to Equinox Mineral's Lumwana Copper Mine in Zambia, one to a mine in the DRC and two to Indonesia for the KPC operation."

AEL's Range of Bulk Emulsions

AEL has a range of bulk emulsions, including water-resistant doped emulsions to heavy Anfo blends, which provide scalable and appropriate energy to suit a wide range of applications, such as tunnelling, civil works, trenching, quarrying and mining and pre-splits (fissures in rock) in most geological conditions, from hard rock to soft coal.

AEL has also developed modified ECO blends, which have a percentage of fuel oils that have been replaced with eco-friendly recycled oils. The use of waste oil in mining operations assists in reducing environmental waste.

Burke concludes, "The flexibility of the MMUs provides the capability of manufacturing AEL’s entire bulk emulsion range. This method of producing application-specific explosives at our customers' operations is extremely cost efficient, as it allows for total flexibility, as well as last minute changes on the bench to suit the different mines' blasting requirements. The MMUs are backed up by a comprehensive range of engineering and support services to ensure that the best blast result is achieved."

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