Launch of BBE Laboratory division, posted September 2008

BBE Laboratory is a strategic part of the BBE expansion plan, which holds exciting prospects for the future. The new division of BBE, situated in Pretoria, will initially be focused on the analysis of dust and diesel exhaust fumes for the mining industry. More services, including occupational health and safety, fire engineering and software development, have been earmarked by BBE as future growth areas. For more information go to www.bbelab.co.za

Appointment of General Manager, Johan Viljoen, posted July 2008

Johan Viljoen joined Bluhm Burton Engineering as the General Manager in July 2008. Johan received his BCom in Accountancy from the University of Pretoria in 1982 and in 1998 went on to complete his MBA with the same institution. He brings with him 18 years of experience gained from CSIR in the field of Financial Management and IT Management positions. Johan is highly regarded for his easy management style and will add significant value to the BBE Team.

BBE awarded turnkey main fan project at Zondagsfontein mine, posted June 2008

BBE was awarded a turnkey project including engineering design, procurement, construction, management & commissioning of two new main surface fans at the new AngloCoal Zondagsfontein Colliery near Ogies in Mpumalanga. The scope of work is the supply, manufacture, installation, commissioning and performance testing of axial flow fans, shaft top bend, bifurcation, ducting, motors, motor houses and control equipment. Main fan motors are 1600 kW each. Commissioning is planned for May 2009.

SA lagging behind in taking advantage of carbon credits system, posted May 2008

South Africa is lagging behind in using the benefits that can be obtained from carbon credits. There is a need for companies to start using carbon credits because they represent a good business opportunity and good revenue stream. Generally, companies are not seeing the benefits, because they do not understand the process. Other countries, like Russia, China, India and Brazil, are way ahead of us. For example, Africa currently only receives 1% of the world-wide carbon credit revenues compared to China which gets about 40%. BBE is a registered energy services company (Esco) and, in response to Eskom's demand-side management (DSM) incentives, is implementing a number of ice-based thermal storage systems and fan power control systems and also exploring more systems that are energy efficient and reduce carbon emissions. Often these projects are funded directly by Eskom.

Launch of BBE Projects division, posted April 2008

In response to the increasing demand for a full spectrum turnkey contract service, BBE has launched a new company under the BBE umbrella. The new company, BBE Projects, will be under the leadership of MD Richard Gundersen and will focus specifically on delivering complete and ready-to-operate systems to mining sector clients. BBE Projects has been structured to deliver turnkey contracts incorporating design, supply, construction, commissioning and performance guarantee of complete surface and underground refrigeration and ventilation systems. Specific areas of expertise include refrigeration/air cooling stations, energy saving/management, main fan control and monitoring systems. The major benefit to our clients will be focused on management, improved efficiency, streamlined project delivery and optimised services. The turnkey approach also reduces the client's exposure, moving the element of risk to the turnkey company. The original company will trade as BBE Consulting under the leadership of recently appointed MD Wynand Marx, offering the core engineering and consultancy services, which have been the mainstay business of the company to date. BBE co-founder Steven Bluhm serves as CEO of the BBE group of companies.

Launch of VUMA-network version 3.3, posted April 2008

VUMA-network 3.3 has been launched as a significant upgrade to version 3.0. This version includes improvement to the reporter facility, full Vista compliancy, updated look and feel, better program stability, updated help files and refinements to the solver routines. For more information visit the website www.vuma.co.za

BBE awarded contract for underground spot refrigeration plant, posted April 2008

BBE has been awarded a turnkey contract for the design and supply of two 500 kW spot refrigeration plants for Bulyanhulu mine in Tanzania. The equipment is shipped in kit form in a number of packaged units including spot refrigeration machine, cooling coils, fans, pumps, piping and valves. The equipment was delivered on schedule.

New ice thermal storage systems for cooling mines, posted April 2008

In this era of energy management, there is an opportunity for cutting costs and energy usage in mine cooling systems by operating refrigeration plants at night, outside of peak usage times, when there is greater availability of electricity. By placing ice in a storage dam on surface, ice can be made at night and stored until required. Refrigeration machines are more efficient at night because it is cooler. In the daytime, the refrigeration machines can be turned off once enough ice has been made. During this period, cooling is provided by melting ice in the ice dam. Overall, on a 24-hour cycle, the ice thermal storage system uses less power than a conventional water cooling system, and the added benefit is that the system runs at night when the cost of power is lower. BBE has demonstrated the effectiveness of this technology at the recently completed 800 ton ice thermal storage at AngloGold Ashanti's Mponeng mine, located near Carletonville. BBE is now constructing ice thermal storage systems at Anglo Platinum's Townlands mine, AngloGold Ashanti's Tau Lekoa mine and AngloGold Ashanti's Moab Khotsong mine.

Ice thermal storage dam at Mponeng mine

BBE implements energy management system for main fan stations, posted January 2008

BBE is currently implementing energy management systems to help mines to reduce energy consumption at main fan stations, especially during peak electricity demand times. The energy management system enables main fans to operate at full flow during on-shift periods and to reduce flow during off-shift periods. This results in cost savings for the mine. BBE has been developing and testing this technology for over two years. Funding for the implementation of these projects is usually provided by Eskom, through its demand-side management (DSM) programme. BBE is undertaking energy management projects at Impala platinum mine, Kloof gold mine, Driefontein gold mine and more recently at Moab Khotsong mine. BBE is retrofitting existing surface fan stations with automatic inlet guide vane control. This control system allows the fans to operate at reduced flow during peak electrical demand periods, while still maintaining high-efficiency operation.

Automatic radial inlet guide vanes are used to reduce energy consumption on main fans

Successful launch for VUMA version 3.0 posted September 2006

On 18 September 2006 VUMA version 3.0 was launched at a function held at the Kloof mine Country club. The features of the improved version 3.0 were demonstrated and new ideas for future upgrades were discussed. A new dynamic website for VUMA has also been launched, from where updates, demonstration versions and technical papers can be downloaded. Visit the VUMA website at www.vuma.co.za

BBE visit to China posted October 2006

Our visit to China provided a valuable insight into a number of ventilation and cooling challenges and initiated exploratory discussions with several contacts in coal, gold and copper mines/groups. There appears to be a genuine enthusiasm in the larger mining groups to tackle the problems and a reciprocal visit to SA has already taken place. Some of the visitors are shown at a presentation in the BBE boardroom.

BBE management signs Safety, Health and Environmental Policy, article posted August 2006

On his arrival at BBE in August, Willie Kruger, Safety Manager, assisted with the finalisation of BBE’s Safety, Health and Environmental Policy -view the policy here. This policy will form the basis of BBE's SHE Management System for all major contracts.

BBE awarded Turnkey project at Impala Platinum Mine, No 20 Shaft, article posted July 2006

BBE has been awarded a large turnkey contract to design, construct and commission a 13 MW refrigeration plant and air cooler system at the mine’s No. 20 Shaft. The installation will consist of surface bulk air cooling spray chamber and fans, refrigeration equipment, condenser cooling towers, all piping, valves and pumps, all electrical and control equipment, plant room building and electrical buildings. Design work has commenced, and civil work is due to commence in January 2007. The project is due for completion in December 2007.

BBE staff are awarded the Mine Ventilation Society Prize for paper titled, “Thermal storage and cyclical control of mine cooling systems”, article posted June 2006

The presentation was made at the AGM of the Mine Ventilation Society of South Africa on 23 June 2006. The paper was published in the October/December 2005 issue of the Journal of the MVS, [Vol. 58, No. 4]. Concepts discussed in the paper were presented at the Tenth U.S./North American Mine Ventilation Symposium held in Anchorage, Alaska, in May 2004

BBE awarded Turnkey project at Impala Platinum Mine, No 16 Shaft, article posted June 2006

BBE has been awarded a large turnkey contract to design, construct and commission a 16 MW refrigeration plant and air cooler system at the mine’s No. 16 Shaft. The installation will consist of surface bulk air cooling spray chamber and fans, refrigeration equipment, condenser cooling towers, all piping, valves and pumps, all electrical and control equipment, plant room building and electrical buildings. Design work has commenced, and civil work is due to commence in October 2006. The project is due for completion in October 2007.

BBE to send delegation to China in June, article posted March 2006

BBE have been invited, as foreign experts, for a two week investigative trip to China in June. The trip will include mine visits and technical discussions to gain an understanding of the particular factors causing high temperatures in certain Chinese mines and to explore ventilation and cooling strategies

BBE has signed a general co-operation agreement with Chinese company Gold Yard Trade Pty (Ltd). Gold Yard have been authorised to market and promote BBE professional services in China in the field of mine ventilation and refrigeration. With the rapid expansion of the Chinese economy, including the mining industry, mine engineers are hoping to tap into the rich knowledge and experience gained in deep, hot South African mines.

VUMA-network [Version 3.0] Launch, article posted April 2006

VUMA-network 3.0 represents a streamlined, user-friendly and extremely robust software product with significant new developments and improvements compared to version 2.5. Network construction is now more rapid due to added functionality in the 2-D graphics interface. Navigating and viewing the network has been significantly enhanced. Visualization of the network and results is provided in a fully rotational and scalable high-resolution 3-D graphics interface; process variables are colour coded and users are able to customise the min-max display range. Another major improvement is that the database format has been restructured to effectively manage library and network files and this allows easy transfer and sharing of files between computers. VUMA-network 3.0 will be available to clients from mid-2006 and will set new standards of excellence in underground mine ventilation simulation software.

BBE Expands Business in Australia,article posted March 2006

BBE is currently involved in three separate refrigeration projects for Australian mines. The projects are at Rosebery Mine (Zinifex) in Western Tasmania, Argyle Diamond Mine (Rio Tinto) and Granites Gold Mine (Newmont) in Western Australia. BBE has an EPCM contract with Rosebery for the installation of two underground cooling plants, each with a nominal capacity of 1.8 MW. All process design and detailed engineering work has been done in-house in our Johannesburg office while equipment and contractors have been sourced in Australia. BBE is working in association with RHP on the Granites and Argyle projects and is responsible for the hydraulic design, on-site project management and commissioning. The Granites is installing three 2.2 MW machines on surface to supply chilled water for bulk air cooling. Dry evaporative condensers are to be used instead of a conventional cooling tower due to the shortage of make-up water. Argyle is installing two 6 MW refrigeration machines on surface to supply chilled water for bulk air cooling. All these plants are due to be commissioned in 2006.

BBE Bursaries Awarded for 2006,article posted February 2006

BBE bursaries for 2006 have been awarded to four mechanical engineering students at the University of Witwatersrand. Tumiso Marebane and Tlou Kgaabi are in their second year of study, while Mphephu Mengouhela and Gundo Ramaphuma (bursar 2005) are now in their third year of study. We congratulate and welcome the three new students on-board at BBE. We hope that this bursary scheme will encourage more engineering students to pursue careers in the field of mine ventilation and refrigeration.

Cold Air for AngloGold Ashanti’s Obuasi Mine, Ghana,

article posted February 2006

In May 2005, BBE were awarded the turnkey contract to build two 18 MW(R) bulk air coolers and associated refrigeration plant at AngloGold Ashanti’s Obuasi Mine in Ghana on a turnkey basis. Earthworks at the first site at Kwesi Mensah Shaft began immediately; civil construction was completed in remarkable time and quality by Consar; 55 containers of equipment from around the world were delivered to site; mechanical and electrical construction by Group Five was completed to produce the first cold air by mid December 2005. This first plant, comprising 3 York refrigeration machines and the horizontal spray chamber, was fully commissioned by BBE and officially opened by Neville Nicolau (COO Africa Operations) in January 2006. Civil construction is underway at the second site at George Cappendale Shaft, which is due for commissioning towards the end of 2006.

DSM Project at Mponeng mine awarded to BBE, article posted January 2006

Eskom Demand Side Management [DSM] have awarded BBE a turnkey contract to design, install and commission a large ice thermal storage system at AngloGold Ashanti's Mponeng Mine, located near Carletonville, South Africa. The system will significantly reduce electrical costs by melting ice to provide cooling during critical peak power cost periods. During a typical day, 800 tons of ice will be produced and melted on submerged ice-coil banks using an existing (modified) refrigeration machine. In addition to the power cost saving the mine will benefit from the availability of near 0°C water.

BBE receives ESCO status with ESKOM, article posted June 2005

During 2005, BBE became registered as an official 'Energy Services Company' for Eskom. This recognises technical competency and financial sustainability and recognises BBE work in the field of Energy Efficiency and Load-Shift Management (thermal storage schemes) for mine cooling and ventilation systems. BBE has carried out many projects on energy efficiency of systems making optimum use of energy recovery devices such as turbines, hydro-displacement devices hydropower, etc as well as designing control systems for the active live control of ventilation and cooling equipment components.

VUMA-network [Version 2.5] launch, May 2005

Development of the next generation VUMA-network [Version 2.5] commenced in 2004. Significant improvements are in the areas of interface graphics, solver routines, reporting and stability. The new version is much more memory efficient, allowing the viewing of large networks in the geometric, strike and section views to be instantaneous. The solver is considerably more robust, allowing fans to operate in the choke and stall zones, and to be switched on and off [with equivalent resistance]. Solver modules for various control element types have been improved, and the reporting function was redeveloped. Final changes to the data structure and testing are required before the new version will be introduced to the market in mid 2005.

A joint initiative with GMSI provided a link between mine models developed with CADSMine and VUMA-network. A beta-version was completed in January 2005 and is currently being tested by industry. The software allows a complete mine layout to be converted to a VUMA network. This will reduce the time required to construct a VUMA model significantly, models will be more accurate and will allow regular automatic updating as mining progress.

Turnkey Project in Ghana Awarded to BBE, May 2005

BBE has been awarded a large turnkey contract for the design, construction, erection and commissioning of two refrigeration and air-cooler installations at Anglogold Ashanti's Obuasi Mine in Ghana. Each system, one at KMS and one at GCS, comprises three 6MW water chillers, an 18 MW bulk air cooler and a 3-cell condenser cooling tower. Energy efficiency was an important feature of the process design given the local cost of electricity. The engineering design includes civil, structural, mechanical, piping and electrical disciplines. BBE have been set a demanding challenge to have the first system at KMS operational by early 2006.

BBE Bursary Awarded, March 2005

A BBE scholarship bursary has been awarded to Mr Gundo Ramaphuma, a second year student at Wits University, studying for the degree B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering. The bursary will cover Mr Ramaphuma's full university education and living expenses. In addition, he will receive in-house training at BBE during the university semester breaks. We congratulate and welcome Mr Ramaphuma on-board at BBE.

Award Winning Publication by BBE, November 2004

Picture shows author Mr Ross Wilson and co-authors, from left Dr Steven Bluhm, Mr Harry Smit (Implats) and Mr Raymond Funnell, receiving the merit award for their publication, titled "Surface bulk air cooler concepts producing ultra-cold air and utilising ice thermal storage", published in the Journal of the Mine Ventilation Society of South Africa, Vol. 56, No. 4, October/December 2003.