MAXAM
MAXAM proudly supports the arrival of the Spain-Australia Council Foundation
2013.02.13
Press room - News - MAXAM proudly supports the arrival of the Spain-Australia Council Foundation
The Spanish company founded in 1872 by Alfred Nobel has been operating in Australia since 1988.
- MAXAM, the world’s 2nd largest global company in the blasting products and services for the mining, quarrying and construction sectors, began operating in Australia in 1988.
- MAXAM’s Australian headquarters are in Brisbane, and it has production facilities in Bajool (Queensland) and Baldivis (Western Australia), with a total of 200 employees.
- Australia accounted for 10% of MAXAM’s total turnover in 2011: 989 M€.
- Approximately 15% of the activity carried out by EXPAL, MAXAM’s Defence Brand, is related to the Asia-Pacific markets (Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, New Zealand, amongst others).
- EXPAL is participating in the Australian Defence Ministry’s DMMA (Domestic Munitions Manufacturing Arrangements) Project.
MAXAM will proudly participate in the inaugural event that the Foundation is hosting in Melbourne tomorrow, the 15th of February. This event will be attended by numerous political and business dignitaries such as Australian Minister for Defence Materiel, Mr Mike Kelly, Spanish Minister for Defence, Mr Pedro Morenés and Harold Mitchell, Executive chairman of Aegis Media.
"It is an honor to join the Board of the Spain-Australia Foundation Council, which works to foster good relations between these two countries. MAXAM’s 25 years of experience within the Australian market will contribute to achieving this objective”, affirms José F. Sanchez-Junco, MAXAM’s Chairman & CEO.
MAXAM has been operating in Australia since 1988, when one of its predecessor companies, ERT, acquired ETS, a small, local company. It employs over 200 people within the country. Since its establishment in Australia, the company has supplied products and blasting services to large mining and extraction companies, such as Holcim and Hanson, throughout the country, as well as Australian companies like Rio Tinto in its international projects (Oyu Tolgoi in Mongolia, one of the world’s largest gold and copper mining projects).
With its headquarters in Brisbane, and with production facilities in Bajool (Queensland) and Baldivis (Western Australia), MAXAM provides technical assistance services, as well as products (civil explosives and initiation systems) to large mining and quarrying companies throughout the country.
MAXAM Australia, with its 200 employees, accounts for 10% of MAXAM’s total turnover (989 M€ during the last fiscal period).
Australia is one of the world’s richest countries in terms of mineral resources, such as iron, coal, crude and gold, as well as the site of a substantial market in the areas of carrying and construction-related resources.
The DMMA Project
The DMMA program, launched by the Australian Ministry of Defence, seeks to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the munitions acquisition system that exists independently from the Australian Defence Forces (ADF), as well as the management of the production capacities of its facilities in Mulwala (New South Wales) and Benalla (Victoria).
EXPAL, MAXAM’s Defence Business Unit, is working together with BAE Systems in a joint bid for this program. A collaboration that extends the relationship that EXPAL and BAE Systems have already developed in the past, working on different projects in the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
EXPAL contributes a number of strengths to the DMMA program bid, amongst them:
- Having the know-how, experience and production capacities related to more than 80% of the products produced by DMMA (nitrocellulose, propellants, insensitive munitions and demilitarization services).
- Integration of Mulwala and Benalla within MAXAM’s value chain (both at the production level, as well as vía its links within the civil sector).
- The experience of having successfully integrated its Danish subsidiary, acquired from that country’s Ministry of Defence in 2008, through similar circumstances, and with an ensuing growth in the work load undertaken there, contributing to the creation of more jobs in the area.
- Global experience in the international management of explosive products –both civil and military–. MAXAM operates locally within 45 countries and sells its products in over 100 spread across five continents.
- The MAXAM Group’s Corporate Policies (Health and Safety, Environment, Quality, Security, Technology) mark its principles and standards of global management throughout the world, and at a local level it follows all relevant legislation. It relies on the support provided by certifications such as the OHSAS 18001 in safety matter for EXPAL installations throughout the world (including Denmark in 2013).
“We are part of a group that is the world’s second-largest provider of civil explosives, with facilities in 45 countries and operations in over 100, which has been operating in Australia since 1988. This, together with our advanced demilitarization technology, is key to what makes us present this bid as an efficient manager that can strengthen and expand DMMA”, concludes Torrente.
EXPAL – www.expal.biz
EXPAL is the head of MAXAM’s defence Business Unit, MAXAM Defence. EXPAL develops, produces and integrates a wide portfolio of products and services for the defence and security industries, including:
- Weapons systems, munitions and energetic materials.
- Technological systems and applications.
- Armored vehicle maintenance and integrated logistic support.
- Aeronautical systems maintenance.
- Demilitarization and EOD (neutralization and 3R of munitions, explosives and pyrotechnics).
Approximately 90% of EXPAL’s activity takes place within the international markets. The Asia-Pacific region (with sales in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and New Zealand) accounts for 15% of this total.
MAXAM – www.maxam.net
MAXAM is a service and industrial group that operates on a global scale by developing, manufacturing and commercializing civil explosives and initiation systems for mining, quarries and construction; cartridges, shotgun shells and smokeless powder for hunting and sports use; and products for the defense industry. Additionally, MAXAM is a supplier of key raw materials for nitro chemical activity, generated for the company’s own internal needs as well as for sales to third parties. Finally, as a result of its drive towards innovative, sustainable development, MAXAM offers its clients a wide variety of solutions in the fields of safety and environmental conservation.
Founded by Alfred Nobel in 1872, MAXAM celebrates its 140th birthday in 2012 with a yearly turnover of approximately one billion euros and a presence in all of the major mining areas of the world, with production sites in over 40 countries, an active market presence in more than 100 others, and over 6000 employees spread across five continents.
MAXAM offers a complete range of products and services to the companies and markets where it operates and integrates safe, superior quality and high tech products with the most complete technical advice, contributing in this manner to the continuous improvement of the services given to its clients. The company’s vast international presence, respect for the environment, groundbreaking research and considerable philanthropic efforts demonstrate MAXAM’s status as a leading, active and committed company, engaged with the progress and development of the society and the environment that surrounds it.
The MAXAM Foundation
The MAXAM Foundation is a non-profit organization that encompasses MAXAM sponsorship activities in the realm of culture, and within painting in particular. Moreover, the Foundation’s mission centers on the organization, preservation and dissemination of the historical heritage amassed by MAXAM since its founding in 1872 by Alfred Nobel. It also organizes activities for the promotion and achievement of objectives linked to civic, social, educational, scientific and technological research and development.
Its main areas of activity are:
• The organization, protection and conservation of the Company’s historical heritage.
• The management of the MAXAM Painting Collection, founded in 1899, which each year provides the image for the company’s famous Explosives Calendars.
• The House of the Explosive at Asturias’s Museum of Mining and Industry (www.mumi.es).
• The MAXAM Chair of Explosives Technology at the Higher Technical School of Mining Engineers at the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM), through which the Foundation has established training agreements with universities around the world (Brazil, Bolivia, Spain, Finland, Hungary, Poland, Australia…), and through which engineering students can conclude their studies in Spain, and later begin their professional careers within some of MAXAM's ’international projects.
