Article from the newspaper El Colombiano
A GELATINOUS BAR WILL PREVENT CRYING IN MINES
By: Clara Isabel Vélez Rincón. March 6, 2011
They say that we learn from tragedies and although the relatives of the 21 miners who died in the La Preciosa mine in Sardinata will not recover their loved ones, the tragedy served to implement the use of Permissible Indugel in Colombia.
The explosive whose development in the country had begun last year by the Military Industry (Indumil) allows the formation of gases in the sinkholes to be reduced without this reducing the power of the explosive.
This means that miners will be able to have a greater margin of safety because when explosives are used to remove coal, methane gas will not be formed which, when accumulated, becomes a death trap that not only costs them their lives but also brings pain into your homes.
The announcement has a bittersweet taste for Colonel (r) Carlos Enrique Villarreal Quintero, manager of Indumil, who had immersed himself in the project with the desire to save the lives of miners in the mines.
And the La Preciosa tragedy led the Ministry of Mines and Energy, Ingeominas and the Department of Arms Control and Trade to "migrate" from the use of Indugel (a gelatinous and cartridged explosive) to the Permissible Indugel, which is a version modified that is produced in other parts of the world but that in Colombia began to be manufactured by Indumil.
For now it is being distributed in Norte de Santander, but in a few months it will be sold throughout the country, because the idea is that all coal exploitation in pits will be handled with this explosive.
To mines in Peru and Chile
But the work is not going to stop there. The objective of Villarreal and his boys at Indumil is that in four months, permissible cartridge emulsions will be manufactured in Colombia.
For those of us who know little or nothing about mining and rarely think that if we add salt to the soup it is because someone took it out of a mine with explosives, the following clarification from Colonel (r) Villarreal is appropriate: "permissible emulsions "They are explosives that generate greater energy." This means that they have greater power and at Indumil they are produced at a lower price.
An export agreement was also signed with Oricas, which is considered the largest exporter of mining products in the world. Some of the “accessories” for open pit mining blasting will come from Colombia and will be used in mines in Chile and Peru.
When Colonel (r) Villarreal speaks of "accessories" he refers to the so-called busters (multipliers) which are the initiating charges of the explosive.
Own technology
About to retire from Indumil, Colonel (r) Villarreal is satisfied because a good part of the projects he worked on for eight years are already a reality or some are about to become reality.
The goal that the Government had when it arrived at the company was for the country to have science and technology developments in the military area.
Some of them are advanced with the support of public and private universities. One of them is the first tactical reconnaissance vehicle, which represents the Military Industry's first foray into that branch.
Other projects are done in partnership with companies such as the Israel Military Industry (IWI), such as the assembly of the Galil ACE rifle.
Some parts have been developed in Indumil and are participating in tenders for six countries.
«The traditional client is Israel, specifically the IWI. Exports are being made to Paraguay, which buys weapons for the Police and is part of the Government's cooperation program in the fight against kidnapping. An agreement has just been signed with the Federal Police of Mexico. The other Latin American countries, such as Panama, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, Peru, Uruguay, are traditional clients for personal defense weapons and ammunition," explained Colonel (r) Villarreal.
Added to this are the developments with other companies of the so-called business holding company of the Ministry of Defense such as Cotecmar (Science and Technology Corporation for the Development of the Maritime and River Naval Industry) and Ciac (Corporation of the Aeronautical Industry of Colombia).
With Ciac, for example, the military industry's first unmanned aircraft is already undergoing testing.
For Save lives
And although when we talk about the military industry we think of weapons and ammunition, there are also developments that can prevent tragedies or improve the lives of those who suffered injuries in combat.
One of these developments is the robotic vehicle for the deactivation of explosives that is now ready to go onto the production line. With this, the lives of soldiers and police officers who carry out the work of sappers, that is, who clean the land of mines and defuse bombs, can be saved.
Although these vehicles are already on the international market and there are some units in the country, the advantage of this is that it would cost 50 percent less than an imported one. Furthermore, in case it is damaged, there is no need to look for technicians abroad or wait for a replacement to arrive.
The Army and Police Engineer battalions are already looking at it and depending on how many are required, the cost and production will be determined.
The story that Colombia is the country that suffers the most from mines in the Western Hemisphere can be repetitive for many people who do not understand what it means for a family to lose a loved one in a minefield or see how their life changes because they lost one of his limbs in one of these death traps.
According to the Presidential Mine Action Program, 363 military and civilian injuries were reported last year. Between 1990 and 2009, the victims were 6,698.
They are people of productive age and with a low educational level who see their lives stagnate when they lose their legs or their arms and sometimes, both limbs.
Every year, 50 soldiers injured in combat are linked to Indumil, whose disability has been confirmed by the Matamoros Corporation. Some receive training and others arrive with their own knowledge that allows them to carry out their work in the company.
"It is a very nice experience to see how the boys take advantage of their second chance at life," says Colonel (r) Villarreal.
But the idea goes beyond providing them with work. Although nothing replaces the lost limb, the prototypes for leg prostheses that could be manufactured in the plant are already ready and ambition prevails. In 15 days the prototypes for the arm prostheses will be ready.
costs and more soldiers will have the prosthesis they are waiting for to take the first step that will allow them to rebuild their lives.
Perhaps the lives of those wounded in combat will never be the same again, but with the production of prostheses by the military industry, costs will drop and more soldiers will have the prosthesis they are waiting for to take the first step that will allow them to rebuild their lives.
