My Sandvik Productivity Archives - International Mining

Among a long list of new products, digital solutions and displays Sandvik plans to introduce at North America’s largest construction tradeshow, CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2023, in Las Vegas, USA, is the Ranger™ DX910i, the company’s latest flagship top hammer surface drill rig.

Sandvik will showcase some of its newest innovations in surface drilling, rock tools, stationary crushing and screening and parts and services at the event, which runs from March 14 to March 18.

The Ranger DX910i is being launched together with new drilling tools. The shoulder-driven curved thread systems CT55 and CT67 increase productivity and reduce fuel consumption, according to the company.

The Ranger DX910i on display will be equipped with the new high-power rock drill RD930C, which expands Ranger DX910i’s hole size range beyond existing DXi rock drill options.

The company will display its electric concept surface drill rig, which demonstrates advanced technologies that will be featured on future Sandvik surface rigs to support more sustainable and energy-efficient drilling. It will also showcase its Leopard DI650i, a surface drill simulator and the RockPulse system for optimising Ranger drilling results.

The OEM will display its latest rock tools offerings at CONEXPO-CON/AGG, including the Tundo™ RH650 down-the-hole hammer, Sandvik Alpha™ 340 top hammer drilling tools, which feature an entirely new asymmetric thread, as well as the LT90 top hammer drilling tools. The company will also highlight its Carbide Recycling Program for recycling customers’ worn carbide tools, aimed at improving sustainability across the value chain.

*Sandvik’s Alpha 340 top hammer drilling tools feature an entirely new asymmetric thread*

The technologically-advanced Sandvik CH865i mid-range cone crusher will anchor the stationary crushing and screening display at the event, which will also feature SAM by Sandvik, the ever-evolving “always on” digital assistant to support operational excellence in crushing and screening plants, as well as the next generation Sandvik Automation and Connectivity System (ACS-c 4.3) for optimising crusher performance, the company says. Sandvik will also showcase its Sandvik CV217 vertical shaft impact crusher as well as screening media and wear protection.

Sandvik’s parts and services exhibit at CONEXPO-CON/AGG will include an interactive display introducing My Sandvik Productivity for Boom Drills, a telematics solution providing easy-to-read dashboards for faster, fact-based decision making, it said. Exhibit visitors can also l experience a live demo of Sandvik’s Expert Off-Site, an on-demand web-based service that instantly connects customers with Sandvik experts remotely, minimising downtime costs typically associated with waiting for technical support, the company explained. Sandvik will also highlight its extended warranty solutions and comprehensive equipment rental offering.

Sandvik says it has released a new solution that will allow automated underground trucks to continue seamlessly through ramp portals to the surface to complete the dumping cycle.

Having offered a sneak peek of this product at the Digitalization in Mining event in Brisbane, Australia, in December, the company has now gone public with the launch.

AutoMine® for Trucks is a first for autonomous ramp haulage applications in the underground mining industry, providing autonomous truck haulage not only in underground environments but also now on the surface, according to the company. “It turns Sandvik’s intelligent mining trucks into unmanned robots; robots that keep running,” Sandvik said.

For many years, mining operations across the world have benefitted from Sandvik’s intelligent AutoMine systems for autonomous and unmanned truck haulage. “They help to reduce equipment damage, repair work and add the highest levels of efficiency and fleet utilisation, giving a lower cost per tonne,” the company says. They are scalable for different mining applications and can be supervised from remote locations.

Riku Pulli, Vice President, BU Automation, Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology, said: “Continuously setting the industry standard, we have now developed the industry-first, fully autonomous underground trucks that can operate in mining levels and mine declines including both underground and surface sections. These trucks are set to revolutionise the mining industry, bringing significant improvements in mine’s productivity and safety.”

A key requirement for an autonomous ramp haulage application is to enable the capability for trucks to operate autonomously not only underground but also on the surface. With this product release, Sandvik has unlocked this capability for its customers, it says.

The different elements of the newly added capabilities have been tested at many of mine sites with existing experience of AutoMine for Trucks, a Sandvik spokesperson confirmed.

A core innovation behind the new capability is the smart handover technology that allows trucks to switch from underground to surface navigation mode in real time. This allows trucks to continue through the ramp portal seamlessly to the surface to complete the dumping cycle.

AutoMine also connects directly to Sandvik OptiMine®, enabling production planning and automatic dispatching of tasks to AutoMine for production execution, according to Sandvik. The progress of production tasks is reported back to OptiMine giving mines real-time visibility of their automated and manual operations and enabling them to make informed decisions on their operation.

Other benefits of OptiMine include equipment and people location tracking, 3D mine visualisation and predictive analytics to transform data into actionable insights. Integration with My Sandvik Productivity allows mines to keep track of their trucks’ condition and know the real-time status of the fleet, the company says.

Sandvik to launch newest Ranger DX910i top hammer surface drill rig at CONEXPO

Sandvik ramps up Automine truck automation efforts