PHOTO COURTESY OF THE BUREAU OF ALCOHOL, TOBACCO AND FIREARMS This is a stick of ICI Powermax 120 cartridge dynamite. Thieves allegedly stole dynamite of this type from a university owned mine.

San Xavier Mining lab contains no dynamite, says lab director

A report released by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms concerning an August burglary at a UA mining laboratory has come under fire from UA officials who question its accuracy.

According to the ATF report, the suspects entered the UA San Xavier Mining Laboratory in Sahuarita sometime between Aug. 7 and Aug. 14 and removed 34 sticks of ICI Powermax 120, 11 tubes of Magnum 1.1D Emulsions and one canister of Procore Primer, an explosives booster.

The ATF has labeled the ICI Powermax 120 and Magnum 1.1D Emulsions as a type of dynamite, a claim that has astonished workers at the mining laboratory.

Hugh Miller, assistant professor of mining engineering and director of the San Xavier lab, said that there was no dynamite stored at the site.

"(The items stolen) are not dynamite; they are emulsions," he said. "I've been here at the UA for almost five years and we do not have dynamite."

The difference between emulsions and dynamite are very notable, Miller said. While emulsions are a type of stick powder housed in a wrapper, they have neither the power nor the instability associated with dynamite.

"It is not like dynamite, which is extremely sensitive and can become unstable in time and has a tremendous shock velocity," he said. "Emulsions are much safer. In fact, with time they become desensitized, and that's the reason we use them."

Dep. Steve Easton, public information

officer for the Pima County Sheriff's Department, said the findings of the ATF were correct.

"If that is what (the ATF) have reported missing, then that is correct," he said. "The report has been released with pictures of the stolen items."

The ATF was unavailable for comment.

"Everything we do is safety-oriented. It would be absurd for us to have explosives like that which are unstable," Miller said. "We have permits that exceed what is required by law, and we're totally compliant with everything."

The disputed report was released just two days prior to the arrest of two sets of teenage brothers who now face charges of first-degree burglary, theft and possession of explosive devices, the Pima County Sheriff's Department reported last week.

The mother of two of the boys, all of whom are minors, has been arrested for hindering prosecution.

The teenagers and the mother have been charged and released and have not returned phone calls.

Now that the items have been recovered, the UA is working with the ATF and the Arizona State Mine Inspector's office to shore up the entry points where the teenagers gained access, Miller said, adding that security at the lab had never been an issue for concern.

"The explosives are secured well underground," he said. "Compared to most mines, we're extremely secure. None of that stuff can go off without the right type of equipment to detonate it."

The lab currently has no on-site

security guards and UA officials rely on neighbors who have agreed to notify the police if there are any trespassers.

This, Miller said, is just one of the issues that the UA will be working on in order to decrease security risks.

"It's only prudent to go out there and do a reassessment and a safety audit of the facility, and we're in the process of doing that now," he said. "We went through the site with the Arizona State Mine Inspector's office (Thursday) to find ways to improve the security."

The break-in and subsequent investigation have caused a setback in September activities at the lab, which is used not only by UA students, but also by a wide variety of people in government and industry.

The lab is the only teaching facility of its kind, offering "short courses" each year for the construction and mining industries. It is also the only mining lab in the country with a working vertical shaft, according to the UA Department of Mining and Geological Engineering.

The lab, which has been used by the UA since 1975, is also available for tours by students. It is unknown if the teenagers who broke into the lab had been there before.

While the motives behind the break-in and theft of explosives have yet to be determined, Miller believes it is nothing more than a case of a few teenagers looking for adventure.

"They're kids. When they broke in, they didn't take the stuff that would be more sensitive," he said. "It was obvious that they were kids. They left boxes of explosives and took stuff that was fairly benign."