Collaboration among key stakeholders in Africa’s mining sector unlocks solutions to pressing challenges – like safety and environmental risks, skills shortages, rising operational costs, and price volatility – that is ambitious for any single entity to tackle alone.
When innovation emerges from such close partnerships, technology is also deployed effectively, ensuring seamless alignment with operational realities and fostering stakeholder trust.
The 2026 Investing in African Mining Indaba, which will be held in February in Cape Town, will once again unite stakeholders from across the continent’s mining value chain to deepen collaboration and build a more resilient, inclusive and prosperous future for African mining.
The event’s focus on strong partnerships is aptly reflected in its overarching theme, “Stronger Together: Progress Through Partnerships”, which resonates with blasting, explosives, and mining chemicals solutions provider BME’s core ethos of ‘partnerships for shared innovation and problem-solving.’
Through its strategic global partnerships, BME offers forward-thinking mine-to-metals solutions that balance performance with responsibility. Delivering on its parent company Omnia Holdings purpose of “innovating to enhance life, together creating a greener future,” the company’s two core mining divisions, BME Blasting Solutions and BME Metallurgy, will be showcasing its sophisticated technologies at the much-anticipated conference which underpin the full mining value chain.
Partnerships that elevate mining
Seelan Gobalsamy, CEO of Omnia, said that the company collaborates with its stakeholders to advance new mining technologies, elevate operational excellence and foster trust with communities.
“Omnia remains committed to combining innovation with responsibility to deliver solutions that perform with excellence and contribute to sustainable mining,” he said. “In line with this commitment, BME continues to demonstrate a strong track record of delivering safe, innovative and quality solutions to its customers.”
He said that backed by Omnia’s integrated manufacturing and supply chain capabilities, BME’s security of supply to customers and cutting-edge innovation had driven meaningful transformation in a sector that is positively leveraged to long-term global trends.
Unlocking Africa’s mining potential
Ralf Hennecke, Managing Director of BME, said that through its strategic partnerships, the company had grown its presence in Africa, while remaining true to its base in South Africa.
“The continent continues to provide immense growth potential, mirrored by vibrant exploration activity and a diverse range of minerals, including those that are crucial to battery performance, longevity and diversity,” he said.
This, while minerals that have long remained the backbone of African economies, such as gold, have also been attracting significant investment.
“There is also still immense scope to work closely with the mature South African mining industry to help it to reduce operating costs,” he said.
He attributed BME’s continued success in existing and new markets to its ability to provide customers with tailored solutions that address unique operational and technical challenges.
“This has positioned us as an explosives and metallurgical partner that collaborates strategically for the benefit of our customers and host communities,” he said, also underscoring the importance of BME transferring skills and developing its local knowledge base.
Driving green chemistry
Lefa Masiuana, General Manager: Mining Chemicals at BME, said that BME Metallurgy – the company’s mining chemicals division – worked closely with customers to explore safer, more sustainable chemical use to reduce environmental risk and waste, while also boosting mines’ productivity and efficiency.
“These efforts are being driven by stricter regulations, in addition to demands by stakeholders to operate in a more environmentally sustainable manner,” he said.
For instance, the company is helping clients to implement chemical circularity by recovering and recycling chemicals back into the system.
“This approach has halved total reagent demand while also saving on the cost of chemical neutralisation – for safer and more responsible transportation of chemicals and waste disposal,” he said.
An example of one of BME Metallurgy’s chemical circularity projects is the replacement of pyrolusite with hydrogen peroxide, an environmentally friendlier alternative, as an oxidant in uranium acid leaching circuits.
Masiuana added that BME Metallurgy was working with mines to find optimal ways of managing the environmentally responsible disposal of packaging.
“This issue remains a large problem, especially for remote mines that must incur high costs in transporting empty containers over long distances to the closest licensed off-site landfills or incinerators,” he said.
Supporting African mining
BME will be on the ground at the Mining Indaba exhibiting their blasting and metallurgical offerings at stand number E10, supported by their Omnia colleagues.
Hennecke said that they look forward to engaging with customers at the event and contributing to discussions that elevate the mining industry.
“As we gather once again at Mining Indaba, we are reminded that through collaboration, innovation and trust, we can make African mining safer, more sustainable and truly competitive,” he said.
