C.S. 166
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Annex B
Manufacture of Cartridged Water Gel Explosives
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The Government's interest in the establishment of a manufac- turing plant for cartridged water-gel explosives may be summarised as follows:
(a) it wishes to encourage the use of a safer explosive, which will in due course make possible the phasing out of nitroglycerine sensitised dynamite which presently accounts for 80% of the current cartridged explosive consumption; this will be accelerated by the availability of an assured local supply of cartridged water-gel explosive;
(b) it wishes to reduce its own responsibilities and liabi-
lities for the storage of explosives; again the local manufacture of water-gel is essential because the high costs of shipping explosives into Hong Kong and the decreasing number of ships which will carry explosives prevent the frequent importation of small quantities.
The applicants
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There are two applicants; ICI's Nobel's Explosives Company Limited of the United Kingdom, and E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company Incorporated of the United States. Both companies have submitted details of their proposed projects to Government and to the Ministry of Defence in London. The Ministry of Defence has agreed in principle that both projects are acceptable.
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Both companies have indicated that there would not be sufficient business for the establishment of two plants for manufacturing cartridged water-gel explosives in Hong Kong. In any case, only one suitable site is available. Moreover, both applicants consider that it will be necessary for the factory to be permitted also to export its products. This could have the effect of reducing the sales to the local market and thereby slowing down the hoped for conversion of local users from the use of dynamite to the use of water-gel. To guard against this, it is proposed to require the successful company to maintain a minimum stock of finished products in the Government Explosives Depot, the level of which will be reviewed quarterly by the Commissioner of Mines. A more important consideration, however, is that Hong Kong would become a potential exporter of explosives to South East Asia, and, in the event of du Pont
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