Rep Spotlight: Red Dog Scientific Services
We are pleased to share the following from Terry Odgers of Red Dog Scientific Services, our Representative for nearly three decades.
History and Early Successes:
Red Dog Scientific Services was established in 1995 with the goal of providing southern African earth-scientists with a wide variety of geophysical equipment. Working with GSSI since 1996, we were peripherally involved with the development of the SIR-2M in-mine system along with the CSIR/Miningtek (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research).
In 2003, following the release of the SIR-3000, a number of SIR 3000 and 400 MHz antenna systems were supplied to our Bushveld mine customers to reduce the number of injuries and fatalities resulting from rockfalls. These customers continue to use them – and now the SIR 4000 and 350 HS antenna – to scan the hanging-wall for potential areas of instability.
We are very pleased to say that the use of GSSI GPR systems in-mine have had a large impact and have significantly reduced the risk to miners.
Utility Detection:
After some legislative changes in South Africa in 2006, Red Dog Development Services was able to move into the utility detection market. We currently have customers spread across South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique and neighbouring countries.
As a supplier of equipment, we choose not to compete with our customers and have stayed out of the market for services, preferring to recommend customers who have suitable skills and equipment.
However, there are occasional jobs that we will do. One project was for the characterization of foundation conditions for building power transmission pylons in a cobalt mine in Katanga, south Democratic Republic of Congo. Work visas were granted and the trusty UtilityScan DF was flown in ahead of time. My last day was spent scanning a wide floodplain in the slim hope I could locate a few hundred-thousand dollars’ worth of transmission cable which had been covered and lost in a recent flood … Thankfully this proved successful and the cable was recovered.
Left to right: A typical ant hill built around a tree, GSSI UtilityScan DF system conducting a survey in DRC, and Terry Odgers demonstrating the UtilityScan system.
