Debswana introduces controversial scannex technology

Chakalisa Dube | Tuesday July 29, 2014 11:10

Senior mine officials have said the introduction of the technology will create jobs. The high-resolution imaging system employs X-rays to reveal stolen diamonds concealed on the bodies of mine workers.

“We are going to increase personnel as a result of the technology. The machine needs a lot of people to operate than our current security operations and it is meant to mitigate against diamond theft,” Debswana’s Orapa, Letlhakane and Damtshaa Mines (OLDM) managing director Adrian Gale said in a press briefing last Thursday at the mine.

He would not give details as to how many employees will be hired should scannex be introduced.

Four scannex machines will be installed at Debswana’s Jwaneng mine with the same number at the Orapa mine. Damtshaa and Letlhakane Mines will have one machine each.

The 10 Scannex machines will be worth P40 million according to Debswana Senior Project manager Eunice Mpoloka.

So far DeBeers mines in South Africa and Namibia are using the technology to deal with diamond theft while in Canada the mines are also said to be exploring the use of scannex machines.

In fact, the DeBeers mines in Canada are using the strip search method, which is said to be humiliating and immoral as one has to strip naked and then rigorously searched.

Unions are said to have shown objections about the introduction of the scannex technology, but Debswana has said that it will introduce the technology should it get approval from the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA).

Unions believe that no amount of radiations is good for an employee. On the other hand Debswana said Scannex radiation is not dangerous as it is of low dosage.

“We have satisfied all the requirements needed by the DEA and the radiation protection inspectorate to use Scannex. If we get approval, we will implement the technology despite objections from unions,” said Mpoloka.

Mpoloka said that two independent reviews showed that the security of the Debswana mines when rated against other DeBeers mines in the African region is very low at 44 percent.

Officials at DeBeers Venetia mine in South Africa said that they have detected a lot of diamonds which employees attempted to steal from the mine using the scannex technology.

Doctor John Johnson told the media last Friday at a press briefing at the South African mine that they have picked a lot of diamonds through this method and that “if it was horrendous it could have been stopped. There was however no readily available figures of the detected cases by the mine.

Johnson also said that it was disappointing that Botswana unions were opposing the move to bring Scannex.

“It is a low dosage X-ray dosage machine and if it was risky, it could have been stopped years ago,” he said.

Debswana is currently raising awareness about the scannex technology and it is targeting to reach out to 80% of its employees by the end of the year. Also, unions are worried that engaging the scannex technology will result in job losses.