New landmine detection technology has been developed by Australia’s national science agency. The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) says its hand-held device is faster and more reliable than conventional metal detectors.
The Australian device uses magnetic resonance technology that can identify the molecular signature of explosives used in landmines. Unlike current metal detectors, it won’t pinpoint bottle tops, shrapnel or other unrelated metallic items — saving mine clearance teams time and effort.
Similar technology using short bursts of radio waves has helped the mining industry to differentiate valuable ore from common rock.
CSIRO scientist David Miljak told VOA that the landmine technology also has similarities with a well-known medical device.
“It is a related technology to the familiar things you would find in the hospital, which is MRI - magnetic resonance imaging - but it is a distant cousin, though, so that the techniques we are using do not require that big magnetic field that people sit in,” Miljak said. “It is just the radio waves that are used, and we are picking up on a molecular signature of the explosive that might be in the ground or the soils.”
Australia’s science agency plans to send its hand-held landmine detectors to parts of Southeast Asia in 2024.
Miljak says they will be used by humanitarian non-government organizations, including the HALO Trust, which carry out mine clearance activities throughout the world.
“The plan is in the next year we will take our advanced laboratory prototypes, which are performing very well, but make them really robust and fit for purpose in the field, and that will be through partnerships of our new company called MRead with NGOs like the Halo Trust,” Miljak told VOA.
It is estimated that over 100 million landmines have been scattered in more than 60 countries, causing around 6,500 casualties each year.
The United Nations has declared April 4 the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action.
