MALUKU UTARA – PT Dahana successfully carried out first blasting on the Underground Emulsion Blasting Services project at PT Nusa Halmahera Mineral (NHM) gold mine site. First blasting activities were held on November 26, 2022 at Toguraci undergound in Gosowong, Halmahera, North Maluku.

GM General Mining Division 2, Abdul Haris Atbaro said the first underground blasting using emulsion was the first time Dahana did. Therefore, Mr Atbaro thought that this operation was very important milestone for future work, especially in the underground blasting services market segment. It also proved that Dahana, in addition to its expertise in  open mines, is also capable of competing in terms of technologically and products in underground blasting services sector.

“Explosives used for underground blasting in NHM are new variants of the Dabex type specifically for underground activities. Dabex Underground, apart from its uses  in underground construction work,  is also applied to vertical holes in slopes in the mining process,” said Mr Atbaro (01/12).

On the NHM site, Dahana was responsible for supplying explosives and special accessories for underground blasting applications in the reactive ground area. Dahana also placed a unit of site emulsion plant (OSEP), as well as a multi-pump units (MPU) that can be used for charging emulsion in underground mines for vertical and horizontal holes.

“Dahana also provides blasting services in the Open Pit Gold Mine at NHM area in the North Gosowong North area,” continued Mr Atbaro.

Mr Atbaro hoped that DAHANA’s internal underground blasting services team will continue to develop technical capabilities and innovate to achieve excellent services can become partners that are ready serve all needs and targets of consumers.

“DAHANA is now starting to attract other underground mining companies in Indonesia for support for both products and underground blasting services,” he explained.

Meanwhile, Senior Operations and Marketing Manager of the 2nd Mining Division of DAHANA, Dadan Munawar said that his team faced various challenges in the first underground blasting process.

“[The challenge can be seen for example] in the process of making special explosive products for undergrounds that must meet special specifications. In addition, the condition of the work area in the underground has a high level of risk. First emulsion underground blasting was carried out at the Toguraci Development Heading’s underground location with a total of 56 holes, an average hole length of 3.7 meter   and a total emulsion of 350 kg. The first underground blasting process ran smoothly in accordance with PT NHM planning and target,” said Mr Munawar.

According to Mr Munawar, in the underground blasting, he was also faced with a charging emulsion process that requires special techniques and requirements with regards to the specification of the underground emulsion products to match the allotment of holes in the heading such as holes parameters, lifter holes, and others.

“But Alhamdulillah, thanks to the extraordinary cooperation and collaboration of the DAHAN and NHM Site Team and NHM in terms of operational technical preparation that was carried out carefully and thoroughly beforehand, all challenges could be overcome so that the first underground emulsion blasting operation could run according to plan and the expectations of PT NHM consumers,” concluded Mr Munawar.

Information:

Juli Jajuli

Senior Manager of Legal & Corporate Communication

PT DAHANA

Email: julijajuli@dahana.id

Mobile: 082111546999