Codan ships mine detectors to Cambodia

Codan chief executive Donald McGurk with mine detectors made at Codan's Newton factory.

ADELAIDE technology firm Codan is supplying 405 landmine and unexploded ordnance detectors to Cambodia as part of a $2 million contract with Japan's Government.

The mine detectors, manufactured in Newton, are being donated by the Japanese Government to the Cambodia Mine Action Centre to help ongoing land clearance operations in the Cambodia.

The first shipment of the latest model Minelab F3 detectors has already been exported with a second shipment, including spare parts for older detectors, due to leave in December.

Codan's Minelab Countermine Division general manager Hugh Graham said the latest order adds to more than 3000 Minelab detectors already in use in Cambodia since 1998.

"Cambodia remains one of the most mined countries in the world Cambodia (with an estimated 4-6 million mines and unexploded ordnances scattered as remnants from wars from the 1960s to the mid 1990s)," he said.

Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar.
.End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar.
Minelab's detectors are considered to be highly effective in mineralised soils, such as those in Cambodia, and are sensitive to "minimum metal mines" used in the country, he said.

However the Cambodian shipment is not the division's biggest contract this financial year, Mr Graham said.

It shipped 1200 detectors to Angola for an estimated $4 million earlier this financial year and has upgraded detectors for the Australian Army with 600 units deployed this year in Afghanistan, he said.

Codan chief executive Donald McGurk told last month's annual general meeting that the company was on the acquisition trail and expected to bed a deal down this financial year.

Codan's Minelab division generated 54 per cent of the company's revenue last financial year, worth $92.1 million and exports to 55 countries including Angola, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Mozambique, Bosnia and Afghanistan.

Minelab introduced its latest countermine model, the F3 Compact detector, to military, security and humanitarian customers last year.