A West Australian company which has spent a million dollars building a new explosives facility in Townsville catering to mining and quarrying is looking to start trading in October.

Nitro Sibir started operations in Kalgoorlie in 2013 and doubled turnover in the last two years, general manager Christine Everett said. 

The company was now looking to North Queensland for its next growth phase where the demands of the local industry suited their service offer, Ms Everett said.

“We believe that North Queensland is growing, just with exploration drilling, and we believe that there’s definitely a lot of capacity here to grow,” she said.  

“There’s not much in the way of competitors here, so we’re really looking to shake up the market, and provide that competition.

“Because we don’t have the hierarchy that other companies have, we’re able to make quick decisions, and nothing’s too complicated for us. 

“We always like to find solutions for the customer. But yes, our service is definitely one of our great features.”

Underground mining first priority

Nitro Sibir was prioritising underground mining, open cut mining and quarrying, Ms Everett said.

The plant was already built and they were looking at trading from the local facility from October, she said. 

In the meantime, it was a matter of getting regulatory approval for their systems and processes too sell ammonium nitrate products and emulsion as well as consumables, she said.

The facility is built at the Brookfield Explosives Reserve on the Flinders Highway south-west of Townsville.

Nitro Sibir started operations in Kalgoorlie in 2013 and developed a bulk emulsion production plant in 2015.

In 2017 the company announced a merger with global explosives specialists Auxin Tech.