Orica opens manufacturing plant

EXPLOSIVES supplier Orica recently opened its first additional bulk emulsion manufacturing plant at its Lae base.
Territory manager for PNG and Pacific Islands, Denis Brassard, said the noise plant, which was worth more than AU$1 million (about K2.55 million) would be producing over 5,000 tonnes of bulk emulsion.
According to Brassard, this emulsion will be transformed into an explosives and can be used for any blasting operation.
He said Orica had two other plants onsite at the Ok Tedi mine in Western and Porgera in Enga.
He said most resource operations used between 1,000 to 2,000 tonnes of bulk emulsion so it was not feasible to for them to have a plant onsite.
He said the additional plant in Lae would supply mine sites in Simberi (New Ireland), Kainantu Eastern Highlands), Woodlark (Milne Bay), Porgera and the Solomon Islands.
“This plant is relatively small from a manufacturing perspective and will make about 20 tonnes a day or up to 30 tonnes with a bit of effort and that’s a volume close to 7,000 tonnes a year,” Brassard said.
He said having a locally based additional plant was cost effective, safe and easy for their customers.
“If we have to bring in from the Philippines or Australia like we did a couple of times, it becomes very complicated and is a very costly exercise.”