Tag Archives: Alexandre Cervinka

Newtrax NVD offers miners customised proximity detection solution

Communications in mining, IoT, Mining equipment, Mining safety, Mining services, , , , , , , ,

Newtrax Technologies says its New Vehicle Device, or ‘NVD’, is its most “powerful device yet, providing underground hard-rock mines with proximity detection, positioning, and communications capabilities in one box”.

The NVD, launched at the Sandvik Digitalization in Mining event, in Brisbane, Australia, this week, is both OEM and network agnostic, according to Newtrax, and includes peripherals such as sensors and control interfaces to enable EMERST CAS (collision avoidance solution) level nine (9).

L9 will help establish technologies that automatically intervene and take some form of machine control to prevent or mitigate an unsafe interaction, according to Newtrax.

Newtrax says the NVD allows underground hard-rock mines to implement several safety and production control solutions tailored to their needs.

Alexandre Cervinka, President & CEO of Newtrax, said: “Proximity detection devices must be designed to work without any network infrastructure. We maintain this critical feature and enhance the new generation of vehicle devices with positioning and remote communication capabilities, to enable near-miss heat maps, operator behaviour monitoring and remote firmware upgrades.”

In April of this year, Newtrax was acquired by Sandvik to be run as an independent business unit within the division Rock Drills and Technologies in the business area Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology.

Newtrax tackles data silo issues with launch of IoT hub

Automation, Equipment maintenance, IoT, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Mining safety, Mining services, Mining software, , , , , , ,

Newtrax Technologies, a leading provider of safety and productivity systems for underground hard-rock mines, has used the backdrop of the Sandvik Digitalization in Mining event, in Brisbane, Australia, to launch its brand new IoT Hub.

The Newtrax IoT Hub is the first AI-powered data aggregation platform, which enables the mining industry to connect all IoT devices into a single data repository, according to the company.

“It connects datasets and information in real time with a wide choice of software applications, enabling transparency of the mining processes and proactive decision making,” the company, which was acquired by Sandvik earlier this year, said.

This hub provides every mining company – big or small – with the ability to build their own “data lake” through industry-standardised application programming interfaces (APIs), according to the company. “This ensures mining companies can pick and choose from virtually any application they want and build the best solution architecture for their unique requirements,” Newtrax said.

Newtrax told IM that there are several applications inside the IoT hub including:

  • Mobile Telemetry Solution data;
  • “AI-ready”;
  • Scheduler;
  • Task Management; and
  • Asset Health.

While the digital mining tech leader has focused, to date, on monitoring and providing insights on people, machines and the environment in underground mines, it told IM that the IoT hub was ready to also host “any process plant solutions”. Newtrax is not intending to build such a solution though and would, instead, happily integrate with other vendors that already had one, the company confirmed.

Alexandre Cervinka, President & CEO of Newtrax, said the company has seen throughout the industry plenty of examples of separate vendors selling IoT devices that only work with their own software platform, leading to the generation of “islands of data”.

He continued: “However, the real power of data can only be unlocked with the customers’ ability to aggregate the data together to make insights that would not normally be seen. That is where the Newtrax Iot Hub comes in.”

Newtrax, which is run as an independent business unit within the division Rock Drills and Technologies in the business area Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology, says it is committed to having an open architecture and will continue to interface with other vendors in the mining digital ecosystem.

The Newtrax news comes only a day after Sandvik said it was opening up its own automation platform for underground loaders and trucks to the wider mining industry through its AutoMine Access API system.

Sandvik bolsters underground automation and digitalisation capabilities with Newtrax buy

Automation, Comminution of minerals, Equipment maintenance, IoT, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Mining mergers and acquisitions, Mining services, , , , , , , , ,

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.”