Where do you go in the Fraser Valley if you need some realistic but harmless land mines? A company with that very question found the help it needed at the University College of the Fraser Valley’s Trades and Technology Centre.

Environmental Mapping Canada is a private company developing airborne sensors that can provide unique and detailed information on features and targets buried in the ground. One of the uses for this technology is the mapping of buried mines, in order to facilitate deactivation.

EMC, based at the Abbotsford Airport, wanted to test its technology and calibrate its equipment on a facsimile of a minefield it is creating in a field near the airport. Company president Roger Vickers found the help he needed to create the mine models in the Welding department at UCFV.

Students and instructors, working from images of real mines, fashioned 30 harmless but realistic wax-filled mines to be buried in the simulated minefield.

Harv McCullough, UCFV Director of Trades and Technology, was happy to help.

"Part of our mandate is to assist industry whenever possible in order to develop and enhance the local economy," said McCullough. He hopes that the relationship with EMC continues and involves UCFV Aircraft Structural Repair students in the future, perhaps in helping with equipment mounting.

EMC only recently relocated to Abbotsford from the U.S., and Vickers has found a warm welcome from both the city and the university college.

"I hope this project was just the tip of the iceberg with regards to our relationship with UCFV," he said. "As our company grows we’ll be looking for all sorts of trained technicians and programmers."

- 30 -