There is not much impetus to generate the necessary research because mine accidents get little public notice and they rarely happen in developed countries. Presently, mines are detected individually by prodding, metal detection or sniffer dogs. Metal detection works well with metal-cased mines, but metal in modern mines has been increasingly replaced by plastic. New mines will soon be undetectable by their metallic content. Dogs can detect the vapor coming from the explosive filling of mines, but they are temperamental, require long training and tire quickly.
Individual location takes time, as it has to be done with great delicacy.
UN policy is to destroy mines by detonation using an explosive charge, although safe and reliable, is expensive in explosives and time. Although little research has taken place, mine clearance companies have carried out practical experiments on many conventional and unconventional mechanisms for destroying mines. Neutralization aims to render mines completely inactive, by biodegradation or mechanical disruption. Biodegradation involves generating some organism that feeds on certain elements of explosive chemicals, rendering them inert. Mechanical disruption involves destroying mines by breaking them up without actuating them, which has not been proved against steel-cased mines.