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Australian Links

NOTE:
Most Australian telephone and fax numbers are being changed to 8 digit numbers in 1997 by adding an extra digit to the beginning of the number and changes to the area codes for each city. Check with your directory enquiries office in case these numbers have changed.

AustCare - an organisation specifically set up to help refugees in Australia - is conducting demining and UXO programmes in several countries. Contact Patricia Garcia: <info@austcare.org.au>

The International Campaign to Ban Landmines has an active network in Australia. Contact us or Bill van Ree.

World Vision Australia also runs demining programmes - Contact Heather Elliott through their web site: http://www.worldvision.org.au/

The largest research team on demining in Australia is at the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) based in Melbourne and Adelaide. A team of about 9 people are working on a multi-sensor approach for detecting mines.

The CSIRO Division of Telecommunications and Industrial Physics in Sydney has developed a differential ground penetrating radar technique which shows promise for detecting non-metallic mines.

Another Australian team at the University of Townsville (lead by Emeritus Prof. J. Ward) is working on a phase anomaly detector - a low frequency device capable of detecting ground variations caused by the presence of land mines. Prof. Ward's efforts are supported by the Fred Hollows Foundation through a landmines working group coordinated by:

A large group of physicists are working on explosive detection devices, including mine detection, at the University of Melbourne. Contact Roger Rassool <r.rassool@physics.unimelb.edu.au>

A local West Australian company has produced a new metal detector (Quantum 2020) which is capable of detecting landmines. It seems to be more sensitive than other detectors available commercially, and has several interesting features. It can distinguish between different types of metal, even different alloys of the same metal. It also works well in highly mineralized ground, and is particularly sensitive to non-ferrous metals in comparison to other recently annouced detectors. A special variant is available which works in the presence of strong RF fields from power lines etc. It uses advanced microprocessor technology and sampling techniques. The detector has been designed to meet the needs of gold prospectors.

The Adelaide company Minelab Electronics Pty Ltd produces a demining version of their gold detector. This is a hardened and simplified device which works well with ferrous targets in mineralized, wet and salty ground. Minelab has recently signed a contract with AusAID and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for the use of 300 of its metal detectors in Cambodia.

In Canberra, Dudley Mills has developed a detector capable of finding non-metallic mines in wet and salty conditions (such as beaches).

A small Australian company, Milsearch, has specialized in UXO and Landmine clearance and has experience in clearing firing and practice ranges in Australia, and has teams working in Laos.

A small group at The University of Wollongong (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering) is investigating automated probing for buried mines. Refer to A/Prof. Fazel Naghdy (http://www.elec.uow.edu.au/people/staff/naghdy_f/biography.html)

Professor Barry Thornton at the University of Technology, Sydney, is investigating electromegnetic surface effect waves for detecting metal objects on or near the surface. This shows promise for scanning a larger area from the air. (http://www.maths.uts.edu.au/staff/thornton/thornton.htm)

International Links

Links to commercial sites do not in any way imply that we have tested or reviewed these products. No indication of effectiveness is implied by listing the company links on this site.

Demining Agencies:

This German Organization (Menschen Gegen Minen - People against mines) has many useful links and a demining news page as well. Here is their English language home page: http://www.mgm.org/ They operate the major E-mail discussion forum on demining. Go to their web site and follow the 'Network' link.

Afghan Technical Consultants is the largest Afghan demining NGO and one of the most effective demining organisations in the world today. Visit their web site at: http://www.pcpafg.org/Organizations/ATC_demining/index.htm

Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC)

Kosovo Mine Action Centre (http://welcome.to/macckosovo/)

South Lebanon UN Mine Action Centre (http://www.un.org.lb/south/south.html)

Norwegian Peoples Aid (NPA) Demining in Angola (http://www.angola.npaid.org/)

Mozambique: http://www.map.org.mz - Information exchange on humanitarian demining projects in Mozambique.

RONCO are a major supplier of demining services for the US State Department. See their web pages at http://www.demining.com/

Minetech International rely heavily on machinery and dogs for efficient mine clearance. See: http://www.minetech.co.uk/

www.clearmines.com provides advertisements and claim that they donate the revenue to demining organisations. Visit the site the press a button today.

See http://www.hdic.jmu.edu/ for others.

 

Here are some other web sites which provide useful references:

The Development Technology Unit at Warwick University in Britain - see section on landmines. (http://www.eng.warwick.ac.uk/DTU/)

The James Madison University provides an excellent "Mine Action Information Center" with an on-line journa at http://www.hdic.jmu.edu/

The United Nations provides a lot of reference information at http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/mine/

The on-going review of mine action standards maintains a web site at: http://www.mineclearancestandards.org/

The Systems Analysis Unit in Germany provides a very comprehensive database on mechanical mine clearance machinery at http://www.sya.de/demin/demin-en.htm. See also the German Government's Foreign Office web site at: http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/leben_ohne_minen/index.html

The European Union Humanitarian Demining Research Effort has a web site: http://www.cordis.lu/esprit/src/hphdhome.htm. Here is one of their research projects: http://www.gtd.es/angel_1.asp.

The Red Cross also provides up-to-date reports and has been coordinating a campaign to ban landmines. http://www.icrc.org/

The Canadian Government has set up The Canadian Centre for Mine Action Technologies (CCMAT) in August 1998 and it is co-located with the Defence Research Establishment Suffield (DRES) in Southern Alberta. They show research on smart probes, protective equipment and detection technologies.

The Swiss Federal Institute for Technology (EPFL/LAMI): http://diwww.epfl.ch/lami/detec/ with many useful links at http://diwww.epfl.ch/lami/detec/mine10links.html. See Claudio Bruschini's survey of European research at http://www.eudem.vub.ac.be/ or http://etro.vub.ac.be/~eudem/

The Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining has a web site, but it has usually been rather out of date. See http://www.gichd.ch/

Fort Belvoir - US Army Program - they support us financially. Web page at http://www.demining.brtrc.com/

Warwick University, like us, focus on local developments. However they are working on several interesting technological innovations, such as the "Tempest" vegetation clearance robot.

A research effort oh Ground Penetrating Radar at Ohio State University under Prof Eric Walton: http://hertz.eng.ohio-state.edu A part of a collaborative project based at Duke University (Prof. Larry Carin). The specific effort is in ground penetrating radar. soil studies/modification, multi-resolution signal processing and multi sensor fusion.

Officer-in-Charge,US Army Landmine Countermeasures Program,Fort Belvoir
Virginia 22060 tel (703) 545 6700 http://www.mnsinc.com/cnm/belvoir.html

Countermine Branch http://www.mnsinc.com/cnm/div.html

APOPO vzw are researching bio-composites and the use of rats for locating landmines in Africa. Their address is:

Van Amstelstraat 139
2100 Deurne
Belgium
Tel: + 32 3 326 15 83
Fax: +32 3 326 15 86
e-mail: apopo@skynet.be http://users.skynet.be/apopo

ITC Netherlands is researching remote sensing of minefields - see http://www.itc.nl/

Commercial Links

A non-explosive method of disposing of landmines (US Company) http://www.galaxyrainbow.com/

MgM website and DETEC both list many companies making demining and related products.

MOS Cold Cutting Systems - Hydro-abrasive cutters for UXO disposal: http://www.mosltd.co.uk/coldcutting/

Demining Products and Support (Canada) supply vegetation clearance manchinery: http://www.demining.bc.ca/demining.htm

Coleman Research Corporation - Working on advanced mine detection systems for the US Military. See http://www.crc.com/CAC/KIOSK/STANDARD/STAND2.HTM

Combat Systems Ltd: A veriety of computer-oriented solutions including a database on landmine and UXO neutralisation methods. http://www.combatsystems.com/

Med-Eng Systems provide highly engineered, high quality protective suits for demining and bomb disposal. See http://www.med-eng.com/. Low cost is not their strength, but the designs are impressive. There are many other manufacturers and there are web-based databases to find them.

A British company, Redbus, has claimed to produce a cost-effective mine clearance machine. They show photos and provide information at their web sites: http://www.redbus.co.uk/ (also http://www.lmds.redbus.co.uk/)

Diana, Princess of Wales, brought attention to the problem of land mines, and her work has helped to motivate people and governments to contribute to our work here. We were deeply saddened by her death. She also brought attention to the plight of children in Pakistan and the world over. Let us remember there is so much more to be done.