The Company

The company Bluhm Burton Engineering Pty Ltd (BBE) was started in 1989. BBE is a team of highly specialised and experienced consulting engineers focused on mine ventilation, refrigeration and cooling.

BBE team includes some 26 specialised professionals [mainly mechanical/process engineers with mining expertise] as well as draughting/design personnel and administrative and back-up team. Total staff complement is some 40 personnel and BBE premises are in the company-owned building at 41 Sloane Street, Bryanston, Sandton, South Africa.

At present, the company is owned, with varying shareholding, by seven of the senior engineers. However this is a continuously evolving process as BBE has a dynamic shareholding philosophy which encourages career development, succession planning and a genuine sense of ownership. The company operates with a sincere and effective team-work culture.

BBE engineers actively participate in professional issues and have professional memberships with: ECSA, MVSSA, SAIME, SAIMM, ASHRAE and SAIRAC. The team includes five past presidents of the Mine Ventilation Society of South Africa. BBE is registered with ECSA for the ongoing development of in-house professionals. BBE is also registered as an Energy Services Company [ESCO] with the South African national power supply company, ESKOM. This recognises technical competency and financial sustainability and recognises BBE work in the field of energy and load-shift management for mine cooling and ventilation systems. BBE team members have authored some 350 published technical and scientific papers, been editors of technical journals and have co-authored a number of standard text books on our specialist subject. BBE engineers have received numerous awards for engineering and scientific achievement over many years.

BBE fosters the development of young engineers and BBE members regularly conduct training courses for mines, mining companies and professional societies and also lecture at universities. BBE operates an undergraduate bursary scheme and at present the BBE scholarship bursary is held by a BSc Mechanical Engineering student at the University of the Witwatersrand.

BBE operates world-wide in all types of mines and the BBE team is up-to-date on latest technologies and often co-develop novel optimum solutions with clients. BBE offers the full range of services from concept through to commissioning. BBE project teams are multidisciplinary and expertise extends from design specialists through to project management and operational experience. BBE has a proud track record of timeous and professional completion of projects. Over many years BBE engineers have contributed significantly to state-of-art technology, the evaluation and implementation of novel cooling systems (recirculation, ice and hydropower) and the introduction of novel mining methods. BBE have developed [and own patented IP] on the application of thermal ice-store techniques in mine cooling and energy management systems. BBE engineers have developed and manage the mining industry's customized [VUMA] software for the analysis of mine ventilation, contaminant tracking, refrigeration and cooling networks.

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