Explosives technology company Hypex Bio Explosives Technology will soon introduce its novel hydrogen peroxide-based explosive technology to South Africa, aiming to improve safety, reduce emissions and enhance mining efficiency, CEO and founder Thomas Gustavsson has confirmed.

Speaking at the 2025 BME Technical Summit, in Pretoria, on October 22, he told delegates that the company was entering the Southern African market through a partnership with explosives manufacturer BME, emphasising that the technology could improve operational cycle times while mitigating risks associated with nitrate leaching and ammonia exposure.

"Through this partnership, we're going to take this technology to the Southern African market and prove that we can not only achieve sustainability, [but] also improve your operations. We can improve your cycle times and perhaps also mitigate nitrate leaching and ammonia risks," Gustavsson said.

Hypex Bio’s technology replaces traditional nitrate-based explosives with a hydrogen peroxide-based emulsion, which the company says is completely nitrate-free.

"Hydrogen peroxide is like water, but with an extra oxygen molecule. We can use that oxygen molecule to propel a detonation process and, thereby, in principle, develop a completely nitrate-free explosive," he explained.

He said the emulsions have been chemically stabilised to achieve performance characteristics comparable to conventional ammonium nitrate explosives, while avoiding the production of toxic nitrogen oxide (NOx) gases and ammonia during use.

The technology underwent seven years of development, including laboratory research and real-world trials.

"We pulled 14 blasts a week for three months and we outperformed their existing blast teams and we did it without the NOx gas. We did it without the nitrate leaching," Gustavsson recounted.

He added that this process involved building a pilot plant, testing the product in operational mines and working closely with production teams to ensure the technology met safety and performance standards.

Gustavsson emphasised the environmental and operational advantages of its technology, noting how hydrogen peroxide decomposes naturally into water and oxygen, meaning spills or waste products are harmless. The technology also reduces emissions and airborne dust in underground mining environments.

In tunnelling projects in Stockholm, nitrate levels in pit water were significantly reduced within days after transitioning to hydrogen peroxide emulsions and re-entry times after blasting were shortened, Gustavsson revealed.

"When it comes to nitrate and ammonia emissions, I can guarantee you that will be eliminated with this. We don't mitigate. We eliminate,” he said.

The company has already demonstrated operational effectiveness at multiple European sites, including large-scale tunnelling projects and underground mines in Sweden, Norway and Switzerland.

According to Gustavsson, Hypex Bio’s hydrogen peroxide emulsions can be charged using the same equipment and procedures as conventional explosives, meaning minimal operational adjustments were required when transitioning to the new technology.

"You don't have to change your drill patterns. You don't have to change your timings or your detonators or your boosters. You shift the product – that's it – and you achieve these benefits," he said.

Hypex Bio was finalising a formula suitable for warmer climates, with stability up to 75 °C for extended periods. Gustavsson told the summit that pilot production and in-rock testing were set to begin shortly in South Africa.

"We have tried sleep times up to 20 days without any product challenges. We are now just going to do the certification tests and then obviously get the product to South Africa," he said.

The technology was designed to provide not only environmental benefits but also operational improvements. Gustavsson said data from Scandinavian mines indicated that using hydrogen peroxide emulsions could improve productivity and reduce costs associated with explosives, ventilation and re-entry delays.

"I foresee that productivity can be increased by potentially adding a new shift, having parallelisations or phase availability increases,” he said.