Landmine buster built in Hermanus

Paul Richards, a retired British Airways captain, lives in Hermanus. He's invented MineBurner, a system that destroys landmines safely and cheaply without explosives. His company also produces a number of his other inventions. The materials for MineBurner have mostly been sourced locally. MineBurner is a remote-controlled device that uses the same principle as a welding torch except that it combines oxygen with LPG (cooking gas) to produce a high temperature cutting flame that burns a hole through the side casing of a landmine and sets the explosive material inside alight without producing a high order explosion. The explosive material burns up, avoids detonation and no shrapnel is produced. The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) tested MineBurner in 2005 and assisted Paul. In 2005, the United Nations estimated that the cost of removing each landmine was between $300 and $1000. A large proportion of the cost was taken up by the transportation of dangerous components, such as pyrotechnics, explosives and detonators. Using MineBurner, the cost to destroy each mine can be reduced to less than 1 Euro. After Paul demonstrated MineBurner to the US government, they also assisted with testing.