Newtrax Technologies says it has now officially been acquired by Sandvik to be run as an independent business unit within the Rock Drills and Technologies division of the Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology business area.

Newtrax, headquartered in Montreal, Canada, generated revenues of approximately C$26 million ($19 million) in 2018. The deal was previously announced in April, with Henrik Ager, President of Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology, saying, at the time, the inclusion of Newtrax into the Sandvik family helped “further strengthen our leading position in areas related to automation and digitalisation”.

The combined expertise of Sandvik and Newtrax will, according to Newtrax, create the “most powerful, streamlined digital solution to improve safety and efficiency for underground hard rock mines” with Newtrax’s leading technology in wireless IoT connectivity, and Sandvik’s leading suite of digital tools for analysing and optimising mining production and processes, including OptiMine® and My Sandvik.

Founded in 2009, Newtrax started as a university project led by Alexandre Cervinka, Founder and CEO, with Co-Founder Vincent Kassis. In 2014, Newtrax received a major investment from Jolimont Global Mining System, an Australian private equity investor in high growth mining equipment, technology and services.

Since acquiring the mining division of ISAAC Instruments in the December quarter of 2016, Newtrax says it has reinforced its position as the world leader in vehicle telemetry systems for underground hard rock mines.

“Newtrax will operate as an independent business unit committed to having an open architecture and will continue to interface with other vendors in the mining digital ecosystem,” the company said.

Cervinka, President of Newtrax, said: “By joining Sandvik Group, we can now confidently say that we have the world’s leading digitalisation solution for underground mining customers.”