Chile's military government laid some 130,000 AP mines and a similar number of AT mines in the 1970s and 1980s as a defensive measure along the borders with Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina. More than 300 minefields cover an area of 23.5 square kilometers. The minefields, located primarily in remote and relatively uninhabited areas, are fenced and marked with signs in Spanish, German and English. Chile has had 145 landmine casualties in the last 30 years, only 30 percent of which were civilian.

Sources: To Walk the Earth in Safety, June 2006
Landmine Monitor Report, 2006

MULTI-TOOLED EXCAVATOR/ATTACHMENTS

Providing reach-in capability for safe operations with manned equipment, Multi-Tooled Excavators offer highly flexible platforms from which operators can conduct ground preparation and specialized mine clearing processes. The combination of tools for sifting, shredding, and combined function excavation and sifting, is tailored to suit local conditions and demining requirements. The attachments can be fitted to the demining organization’s own armored excavator.

PARTNERS: The HALO Trust – Afghanistan, Mines Advisory Group – Iraq 2007, Cambodia Mine Action Center 2007, Chilean National Demining Commission 2008

AIR-SPADE

The Air-Spade uses compressed air at supersonic velocities to rapidly excavate soil, providing a safer alternative to manual mine and UXO excavation. The Air-Spade exerts less than 2 pounds of force on smooth objects such as UXO and mines. The Air-Spade's air-jet, water-jet, vacuum, and vegetation tools ease excavation in difficult soil conditions and provide operators with additional safety by increasing the standoff distance.

PARTNERS: Chilean National Demining Commission, Thailand Mine Action Center, The HALO Trust - Angola