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De Beers Subsidiary Aims to Roll Out Body Scanners in Airports

DebTech, the research and development arm of diamond giant De Beers, is ready to release its body scanning technology to the market, according to a report by South-African weekly Engineering News Online.

The foiled terrorist attack on December 25 has led the U.S. to mandate full-body scans as part of the increased airport security regulations in 14 countries, creating an increased demand for a unit such as DebTech's Scannex body scanner.

The Scannex body scanner is a low X-ray dose, full-body scanner able to detect very small diamonds, with an X-ray exposure small enough to allow for a number of scans to be performed on a person each year without health risks.

DebTech has already started discussions with the Airports Company South Africa (Acsa), said DebTech marketing manager Nico van Zyl. Each Scannex unit is estimated at about 3.7 million South African Rands (US$506,000)

The Scannex system is used at a number of diamond mines in South Africa and Namibia.