Cutting edge Research & Development

AEL continuously develops cutting edge technology by investing significantly in research and development to bring innovative solutions to the evolving mining and quarrying environments.

With its large team of leading engineers and scientists, AEL has over a century of expertise and knowledge in developing ground-breaking and innovative blasting solutions.

AEL partners with academic institutions to conduct fundamental research that will ultimately benefit industry.

AEL embarked on the Initiating Systems Automation Project (ISAP) in 2006 and has designed, built and commissioned a high speed automated assembly line to deliver high volumes of shock tube product within a significantly reduced cycle time relative to existing manual processes. The project entailed various stages of automation starting with the manufacture of detonators right through to the assembly of final products sold to the market.

AEL is developing the largest automated shock tube manufacture and assembly process, scheduled for completion in 2012, which aims to substantially increase production, improve safety, decrease costs and set an international benchmark for quality.

AEL delivered its first fully automated shock tube blast at Anglo Platinum's Brakspruit Mine in the North West province in South Africa in June 2009, followed by successful field trials of 150 000 units.

The initial blast at Brakspruit marked AEL's adoption of automated shock tube assemblies and comes on the back of the company's conversion of the South African Narrow Reef market from capped fuse to shock tube technology, which is set to improve safety and blasting results in the mining industry.

AEL's Research and Development department has pioneered and patented many world firsts, one of them being the world's first commercial pyrotechnic spray drying plant, which will provide all the delay powders that the company needs for its new multi-million rand automated assembly plant.