After some good results with the real estate industry, we've suddenly started getting enquiries for our AssetTracker barcode tracking system from mining companies. I suppose mines are an obvious enough candidate for this type of product.

After all, they have millions of dollars in movable assets such as workshop tools and equipment, portable pumps and engines, electrical equipment, office equipment, and so on. And they also have lots of keys to worry about, some of which control access to very important areas like explosives stores and control rooms.

In one instance, the enquirer was interested in using an AssetTracker in conjunction with a KeyWatcher. KeyWatcher is actually our flagship product. It is a state-of-the-art computer-controlled key cabinet with software that enables you to restrict physical access to your keys to authorised people only and to hold those people accountable for what they do with the keys.

If there should be any attempt whatsoever to tamper with a KeyWatcher or to remove keys without authority then the KeyWatcher would go into alarm. What’s more, KeyWatcher's have memories for storing transaction history which can be used to produce audit reports.

Getting back to the enquiry, this particular mine required the KeyWatcher to control access to the keys of its various explosives stores, and the AssetTracker to control the issue of the containers in which the explosives and their charges are stored. Though it was not discussed, I can see how our OmniScout product, which is a species of GPS tracking device, could also be used in the same application. The OmniScout could be attached in some way to the explosives containers to enable the relevant managers to track the movements of the containers (or the vehicles carrying them) until such time as the blasting job has been completed.