MP celebrates 20th Anniversary of Derbyshire company
Melbourne company Bretby Gammatech marked its 20th anniversary with a special event held at its premises attended by South Derbyshire MP Heather Wheeler on Friday 16th May.
The company, which produces coal quality monitoring equipment for the worldwide mining industry, celebrated with customers, VIPs, past and present staff, the success of the business which pioneers non-radioactive methods for analysing the ash content of coal.
Mrs Heather Wheeler MP said: “I would like to congratulate Bretby Gammatech on its 20th anniversary. It was very inspiring to see the company’s cutting edge coal monitoring technology and to learn about its past and its exciting plans for the future. The journey from the old Coal Board Research site at Bretby to a company that now has 95% of its business exported is a dream come true for us in South Derbyshire”
The visit included a presentation by Gary Wain, general manager of Bretby Gammatech, on the future of the business and the technological advances it is set to introduce, by Mark Henley of President Engineering Group Ltd which acquired the business in 2012 and a history of the business by Paul Taylor, the former managing director of the company.
This was then followed by product demonstrations of the company’s Ash Probe, Lab Ash and Ash/Heat Eye technology. Heather Wheeler MP also performed the official “switch on” of the new Eye Graffix software which is the company’s latest innovation that is set to revolutionise its online systems, such as Ash Eye and Heat Eye, giving customers greater functionality and remote access.
Gary Wain, general manager of Bretby Gammatech, said: “We were delighted to welcome our MP Heather Wheeler plus other local dignitaries to join with us to celebrate our 20th anniversary. We are a small Derbyshire company yet we develop and sell world-leading coal monitoring equipment across the world from Brazil to Mongolia. It was great to be able to showcase our latest technology and demonstrate our exciting plans for the future.”
Bretby Gammatech was founded by four former British Coal staff back in 1994, who developed an Ash Probe that could be plunged into piles or trucks of coal to monitor the ash content, using natural gamma radiation which has huge health and safety and cost benefits over other methods. Over the last 20 years, the company has innovated within its range and added a number of new products. In 2012 it became part of the President Engineering Group (PEGL), which has enabled it to further exploit opportunities internationally. The company supplies its technology to all the major mining markets across the UK.
