At a different time, Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel brought the world dynamite. Now other Swedes are aiming to disrupt the explosives market with a non-ammonium nitrate product they believe every AN-based supplier will be looking to imitate soon.
Thomas Gustavsson, co-founder and CEO of Hypex Bio Explosives Technology, says the three-year-old firm “solidified our transition” in 2023, forging an alliance with South Africa’s Omnia Mining and building its commercial relationship with Swedish metals producer Boliden.
The latter says Hypex Bio’s nitrate-free emulsion “can lower CO2 emissions from the manufacture of explosives by up to 90%”.
Omnia, which paid about US$10 million for c10% of Hypex Bio, says its technology “is the first commercially viable non-nitrate explosive emulsion in the market, with the potential to transform the explosives supply industry”.
Gustavsson told InvestMETS.com Hypex Bio now had to do “probably one of the most difficult things a small company can do”.
