CHEMICAL weapons buried at a former US Army ammunition dump at Columboola near Chinchilla will remain at the site until a team of United Nations’ weapons inspectors gives the all-clear for them to be destroyed.

Department of Defence experts Dr Mark Bowman and Colin Trinder met with Western Downs Regional Council and emergency services staff yesterday.They gave a briefing on the process of managing the 144, unexploded, 105mm Howitzer shells, some containing mustard gas agent Mustard H, detected during a mining survey in August.

Specialist Department of Defence contractors used a backhoe to dig the rusted shells out of the ground before they were sealed and stored to become part of the first chemical weapons destruction project of its kind in Australia.

Mr Trinder said the shells did not contain fuses and there was no way of triggering an explosion.

“We take an extremely precautionary approach to dealing with these things,” Mr Trinder said.

The department is now exploring the best way of destroying the weapons, which could include importing an explosive destructive system from the United States to be assembled at the site.

Mr Trinder said there would be opportunity for members of the public to inspect the destruction process of the weapons at an open day once the method had been decided.

The weapons are expected to be destroyed by June next year.