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NEWS FROM THE ARCHIVES - 1995 to 2004
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● In December 2004 we successfully commissioned the first
Ash Probe at a large opencast mine in Siberia. It functioned satisfactorily at temperatures of -20° Centigrade (-4° Fahrenheit). This was written up in the
January/February 2005 edition of Coaltrans International. |
| In August 2004 we successfully commissioned the first Ash Probe at a power station in the Russian Far East.
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● Just two months after a marketing visit to Vietnam we received orders from two mines in Quan Ninh province for
Ash Probes. These were successfully commissioned in
July 2004.
Subsequent feedback shows they are providing very accurate results. In one case the mine have even stopped taking routine samples for conventional analysis. Further orders have been received.
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● In March 2004 Paul Taylor, Bretby Gammatech's managing director, visited Vietnam to
introduce our products to their rapidly growing mining industry.
STS Co Ltd. had already done some market research for Bretby Gammatech and during the visit STS Co Ltd. were confirmed as the Sole Distributors for Bretby Gammatech products in Vietnam.
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Two highly successful demonstrations of the
Ash Probe were carried out in Quang Ninh province at a
coal preparation plant and an export terminal. A presentation to about 45 representatives from 27 of
the subsidiary companies of Vietnam National Coal Corporation in Quang Ninh province was made.
The meeting was chaired by Mr Vuong Van Doc, Director of the Department of Science and Technology
for Vietnam National Coal Corporation.
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● In February 2004 we completed the development of a Local Ash Processor (LAP) for our conveyor belt monitoring systems.
This unit provides a local instantaneous display of ash quality at the conveyor site and communicates
with the main Ash Eye Control Unit via a two-way serial link.
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This removes the need to have
a cable containing ten twisted-pair connections between the conveyor site and the Control Unit site (often many
hundreds of meters apart).
The first two systems have been ordered by a customer in China
via our distributor John Finlay Engineering Pty.
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● An article in the
January/February 2004
edition of Coaltrans International outlined our project for the supply of two
NGCQM units in China. Since that article was written we have made sales to both India and Colombia. Copies are available on
request.
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● In October 2003 we heard from our new power station customer in Ukraine via our distributor Sbytenergoprom that the newly commissioned
Ash Probe had already detected an out of specification coal delivery and as a result the whole trainload had been rejected. Apparently this one action fully justified the purchase of the Ash Probe. This was reported in the January 2004 edition of World Coal.
● In June 2003 Bretby Gammatech moved to its own dedicated unit within a small complex of units on the outskirts of the attractive market town of Melbourne. We are now conveniently located only four miles west of junctions 23a & 24 of the M1 motorway. Our new accommodation comprises four offices, a well equipped laboratory, a workshop, a kitchen and a general office area as well as a large covered storage area.
● In May 2003 we won our first order in the Ukraine to supply two
Ash Probes and a LabAsh.
● In January 2003 we supplied our first Mexican customer with a
LabAsh.
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● In October 2002 Paul Taylor gave a paper titled "Experience
using on-line and portable ash monitors based upon natural gamma technology
in China" to the China International Conference and Exhibition on
Coal Processing, Utilization & Environmental Protection, Beijing 29-31
October, 2002.
● In September 2002 Paul Taylor, Managing Director, gave a paper
at the annual meeting of the Minerals Engineering Society in South Wales
titled "Quick Ash Measurement of Coal Stockpiles is Possible with
the Ash Probe"
● In July 2002 Martin Brett, Technical Director, provided our analysis
of the natural gamma spectra of numerous coals gathered from many countries
around the globe to the IEA.
● In June 2002 we launched our new product the
LabAsh.
● In May 2002 we exhibited the
Ash Probe at the Coal Preparation
Exhibition in Lexington, Kentucky for the second year running in conjunction
with our agents Eriez Magnetics.
● In April 2002 we completed the commissioning of a bespoke system
for a customer in Spain. It comprised a modified
NGCQM
underground feeding the on-line run-of-mine ash data to a special Bretby
Gammatech designed 'Totaliser' on the surface providing individual displays
and archives of the ash content of the coal coming from the various satellite
mines. Facilities for individual calibrations for the various source coals
is available but so far a single calibration has proved very effective
at providing accurate real time ash data.
● In March 2002 we attended the XIV International Coal Preparation
Congress and Exhibition in Johannesburg, South Africa. Paul Taylor, Managing
Director, presented a paper titled "Quick Ash Measurement of Coal
Piles is Possible with the Ash Probe". Copies are available on
request.
We also set up
Process Automation (Pty) Ltd.
as our agents in South Africa.
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● In December 2001 a paper titled "Natural gamma technology
put to the test" was published in World Coal.
● In November 2001 we attended the India Mining Summit in Kolkata,
India. We were accompanied by our agents in India,
Khemka Instruments Pvt.
of Kolkata. Paul Taylor, Managing Director, presented
a paper titled "On-line and Portable Ash Monitoring for surveillance
and quality control in the Indian Coal Industry". Copies are available
upon request.
● In October 2001 we exhibited the
Ash Probe at China Coal 2001 on the
John Finlay Engineering stand, our distributor in China.
● In May 2001, in conjunction with our new US distributor
Eriez Magnetics launched the
Ash Probe
in the US at the Lexington Coal Prep Exhibition.
Subsequent to the exhibition a series of demonstrations was carried out
at a number of West Virginia mines - considerable interest was generated.
● In October 2000 we won the Best Newcomer Award in the Trade Partners
UK Export Award for Smaller Businesses 2000. This was widely reported
in the UK press including the Financial Times and The Daily Express.
● In January 2000 World Coal published an article titled
'An All Natural Technology'. This article describes the
NGCQM and
Ash Probe
in more detail than is given in this web site.
Reprints are available upon request.
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● In September 1999 Paul Taylor, Managing Director, presented two
papers at the Thermie Workshop in Athens titled New Technologies for Coal
Quality Control and Homogenisation. One described the
NGCQM and gave long-term
performance data and the other described the Ash Probe and gave details
of the calibration and performance. Copies are available upon
request.
● In January 1997 we hosted a delegation from China which included
a deputy coal minister and two coal mine bureau chiefs. Subsequent to
this visit we sold the first
NGCQM into China.
● In 1996 we were finalists in the Southern Derbyshire Chamber of
Commerce Business Awards.
● In 1995 we won a DTI SMART award for research into liquid scintillators.
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