Tag Archives: Sandvik

Sandvik to showcase digital, battery-electric and diesel-electric advances at MINExpo 2024

Automation, Environmental, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Mining events, Mining finance, Mining services, Mining software, Power supply for mines, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Sandvik will introduce innovative new solutions and showcase its latest technologies at mining’s largest tradeshow, MINExpo INTERNATIONAL® 2024, in Las Vegas, including battery-electric and diesel-electric equipment to help customers improve their sustainability.

The OEM will have its latest innovations on display at the show, September 24-26, including its new Toro™ diesel-electric truck demonstrator and latest battery-electric concept surface drill rig.

Sandvik’s 21,000-sq.ft (1,950-sq.m) exhibit will demonstrate its vision for the “future of mining”, a theme that emphasises its focus on the technologies and solutions that will help customers mine more sustainably without compromising productivity or efficiency.

“As the mining industry helps drive the global green transition and decarbonisation efforts accelerate within our own sector, we continue to innovate within automation, digitalisation and electrification, key areas that empower our customers to mine more sustainably,” Mats Eriksson, President of Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions, said.

Digitalisation is poised to become even more vital in solving the industry’s ever-increasing challenges of safety, productivity and profitability. The centrepiece of Sandvik’s exhibit will be a 645-sq.ft (60-sq.m) immersive room, a sensory experience that will showcase the company’s end-to-end digital offering and other key technologies, the company says. MINExpo attendees can step into a mine control room and cap lamp room, explore Sandvik’s MineGame advanced simulation tool and discover technologies including Sandvik’s digital convergence system and collision avoidance system.

Sandvik is expanding its technology portfolio by developing a diesel-electric range of underground loaders and trucks to complement its leading BEV offering, expected to boost productivity, reduce total cost of ownership, improve availability and extend component lifetimes. Sandvik first showcased its Toro diesel-electric truck demonstrator to customers at a technology workshop in Turku, Finland, in 2022. Boasting a capacity of 60-plus-tonnes, the demonstrator has since undergone extensive performance testing and the Sandvik product development team is using customer feedback to ensure its future commercial offering meets industry needs.

On the surface drilling side, Sandvik will showcase its Sandvik DR411i rotary blasthole drill rig and Pantera™ DP1510i top hammer drill rig, as well as its latest battery-electric concept surface drill rig. On display for the first time outside of Finland, the down-the-hole BEV is the first in its size class, capable of drilling DTH holes up to 9 in (229 mm) in diameter and blending the autonomy of battery with the continuous endurance of power cable.

On the underground drilling side, the Sandvik DL422iE longhole drill will be on display together with Sandvik’s future direction for battery-electric underground drilling applications, a new rock drill offering and the latest in iSURE® and Sandvik DrillConnect capability. Underground drilling and Deswik integration for longhole mine planning will also be presented, alongside Sandvik ground support solutions including its ARI System, resin injection head, pump resin kit and mesh products.

Sandvik will display some of its latest rock tools at MINExpo, including the new CT55 and CT67 curved thread top hammer tool systems for surface bench drilling and underground longhole drilling, Golden Shank with unique corrosion resistance, push bore reamer system for underground slot hole drilling and Sandvik RR340 single seal roller bearing rotary drill bit. Sandvik will also launch new rock tools at the show, including a new DTH hammer and bit family and a new collective concept for its digital rock tools suite.

Sandvik’s parts and services exhibits will showcase the company’s comprehensive lifecycle support, blending the unparalleled OEM expertise of Sandvik service technicians with advanced technology to maximise performance and longevity for Sandvik equipment – whether it’s diesel, hybrid or electric, the company says. Sandvik will also present its latest developments within its suite of digital services, which leverage data and insights from its connected equipment.

For rock and mineral processing applications, the Sandvik booth will feature a display of Sandvik hydraulic hammers as well as the company’s latest lineup of high-capacity vibrating screens and feeders. Recent acquisitions enable Sandvik to offer one of the most comprehensive ranges of vibrating screens and feeders on the market, it says, with equipment capable of handling up to 8,000 t/h. MINExpo visitors will see the SL3672M, a double deck flat screen that measures approximately 12 ft (3.6 m) in width and 24 ft (7.3 m) in length and weighs around 33 t. Also on display will be Sandvik’s new screen condition monitoring and screening media management systems, designed to help operators maximise processing plant uptime and efficiency.

Representatives from Sandvik Financial Services will be available at the booth to discuss equipment financing opportunities.

Sandvik intelligent underground drill fleet heading to mine in Southeast Asia

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Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions says it will deliver a fleet of intelligent underground drills to a mining customer in Southeast Asia.

The order includes Sandvik DD422i development drills, Sandvik DS422i rock bolters, Sandvik DL432i longhole drills and a Sandvik DL422i longhole drill.

Deliveries will begin during the September quarter of 2024 and continue through the June quarter of 2025, Sandvik added.

“This mine already operates a large fleet of Sandvik intelligent development and production drills,” Manny Maloney, Vice President Sales Area South-East Asia, Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions, says. “This repeat investment now underpins the strength of our underground drilling offering and our long-standing partnership.”

Some of the Sandvik DD422i development jumbos feature Sandvik’s Dual Controls package, while others include Sandvik’s Platinum automation package. The Dual Controls package for Sandvik DD422i features dual drilling controls and split feeds for multitask drilling operations including boring, bolting and meshing. The Platinum automation package offers options for automatic boom movements and boom collision avoidance.

IGO and Perenti herald ‘drop-in’ battery-electric, autonomous drilling solution at Nova

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The confluence of automation and electrification in underground mining was spoken of many times at The Electric Mine 2024 event, in Perth, Western Australia, last month, with a whole themed session dedicated to it.

One of the best examples of the two trends converging was observed in a talk titled, ‘Electrification and Automation at IGO’s Nova Mine: Implementation of the Sandvik DL422iE Production Drill.’

In this joint presentation, Brandon Cooper, Senior Mining Engineer of Projects at IGO Limited, and Paul Linabury, Manager of Electrification at Perenti Contract Mining, outlined how this new electric and automated longhole drill could provide the entry point underground miners require to understand the practicalities associated with incorporating such new technology.

“This isn’t the heavy hitter for greenhouse gas or DPM (diesel particulate matter), but what it does is allow us to operate a battery underground and get familiar with it,” Cooper said of the Australia-first DL422iE deployment at Nova.

The Sandvik DL422iE is a fully-automated, battery-powered top hammer longhole drill designed for underground mass mining in 4 x 4 m or larger production drifts, Sandvik says. It can drill vertical and inclined fans and single or parallel Ø89-127 mm longholes up to 54 m in depth using ST58 and ST68 tube rods.

The drill’s electric driveline includes a battery package and electric motor to allow for zero emissions while tramming and also reduced thermal load. The DL422iE also features Sandvik’s patented Charging While Drilling technology; an innovation for reduced battery charging time without the need for additional infrastructure.

Barminco, part of Perenti, purchased the Sandvik DL422iE, which was commissioned and put to work at Nova in July 2023 as part of Barminco’s existing services contract, with the surface drilling remote capacities operationalised in February of this year.

Nova, itself, is a remote operation in the Fraser Range of Western Australia that has traditionally relied on large diesel generators for power. The company has progressively transitioned to renewable generation, which has been reinforced by a 10 MWh lithium-ion battery. These two, alongside the site’s synchronous condensers, allow Nova to produce enough renewable energy to power the production plant and underground mine when the sun is shining, according to Cooper.

This is important for the context of introducing an electric drill to the fleet that is powered off a 75 kWh sodium nickel chloride battery when tramming and the mine grid – via cable – when drilling.

While the electric drill introduction represented an Australia first, Nova has been trialling and deploying battery-electric equipment for several years. It has three Zed 70 Ti light utility vehicles (battery-electric conversions of Toyota Landcruisers) in its fleet from Zero Automotive, has trialled the Bortana EV – another electric light vehicle – has one BME ITC L120H battery-electric integrated tool carrier to its name and is expecting to add another machine to its fleet by the end of the year – a Normet Charmec MC 605 V(E) SD battery-electric emulsion charge rig.

This breadth and depth of experience allowed Cooper to look across the industry’s underground mine electrification equipment offering and draw some parallels at the event.

“Introducing a battery-electric drill has, at this stage, a lot more chance of being seamless and successful with far less operational changes needed to be made compared with a truck or a loader,” he said.

The proof of this statement was in the presentation, and some of the specific operational highlights he and Linabury outlined.

From initial deployment in July 2023 to the middle of May 2024, IGO had drilled 50,750 m with this rig, with Cooper saying the site typically drills longholes to 45 m lengths. When compared with the diesel-powered DL421 rig the operation was previously using, the DL422iE was 20% more productive than the DL421 rig’s 12-month average drilling rate of 5,000 m/mth.

Looking at the automated elements on board the Sandvik rig – the first battery-electric vehicle equipped with Sandvik AutoMine® for surface remote drilling and automation – Cooper highlighted higher metres drilled, reduced hole setup times and increased flexibility.

He provided some colour here: “Auto fan drilling enables the drill and blast engineer to put a drill design on a USB stick and give it to the operator, where the operator plugs it into the rig’s USB port to view a digital map of what they’re drilling. The rig itself will automatically test each planned collar location and alert the operator if a hole needs to move; allowing them to shift the collar and leave the toe in place, or shift and drill a parallel hole.” These amendments to the original plan are recorded, with the engineer able to analyse the information on the updated file later.

Following this process, the rig can be setup to drill an entire fan without any operator input.

The second automation advance Cooper highlighted was the ability to carry out drilling from the surface in a cab. The company has been using this facility to drill during shift change or during re-entry. “That feature is netting us 770 m on top of what we have been getting every month,” Cooper said. “And I don’t think we are taking full advantage of it just yet; I think there are more gains to be had.”

While the machine is meant for battery-electric tramming, Cooper said there had been glimpses of the rig’s ability to also drill off battery, relaying one occasion where an electrician was able to repair a “jumbo box” at the same time as the operator carried out a 25 m long hole using battery power.

The battery-electric rig has also required some changes to the way operators work, with Cooper noting that the 75 kWh sodium nickel chloride battery did not provide enough power for the machine to tram 3.3 km (on a 1:7 incline) from the bottom of the ramp to the top. Nova operators had got around this issue by carrying out an opportunity charge 850 m from surface by the rod-storage cuddy, allowing the operator to offload drill rods at the same time.

“These BEVs require changes to the way we work,” he said. “If we can integrate those changes into our existing work practices to minimise the changes to the operators, we will get a better result.”

Linabury, meanwhile, highlighted how the services provider was identifying the new risks and opportunities that were emerging from battery electrification during deployments such as this.

Examples included recognising the increased number of electrical isolation points on a battery-electric drill and creating a live line indicator to identify when current is running through these, charging the battery to below full capacity to make the most of downhill regeneration and more closely interrogating classifications given by systems such as the battery management interface.

In the Q&A session at the end of the presentation, Cooper summed up the IGO rationale for bringing this new battery-electric and automation-enabled machine into the Nova fleet: “As we have shown with the DL422iE, you can essentially drop this in and change very little about the way you operate normally, but at the same time you get a chance to play around with: ‘What does my emergency response look like for this new drill? How do my supply chains have to change for parts? How do my skillsets need to change for people? What do the operators need to be made aware of?’

“You can solve all of those problems, and a lot of those learnings are then directly transferable for when you start tackling the bigger problems of heavy machines.”

Such learnings would allow the company to have a much clearer picture of what it would take to fully electrify an underground mine in the future, he concluded.

Byrnecut rolls out first Sandvik battery-powered jumbo in South Australia

Environmental, Mining equipment, Mining services, Power supply for mines, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Contract miner Byrnecut has taken the next step on its journey towards expanding its battery-electric equipment fleet with the roll-out of the Sandvik DD422iE development drill with dual controls at the BHP-owned Prominent Hill mine in South Australia.

The drill is the first battery-electric Sandvik development drill in operation in Australia.

Byrnecut took delivery of the battery electric jumbo at Prominent Hill copper mine in December 2023. The machine was put to work alongside Byrnecut’s existing fleet of diesel-powered equipment, including Sandvik development drills, production drills, cable bolters, trucks and loaders. Five months on, drill operators and Byrnecut management alike are impressed by the jumbo’s reliability and its contribution to a cleaner, quieter underground environment, Sandvik reports.

Technical Services Manager at Byrnecut, Dave Taylor, said th Sandvik DD422iE jumbo has “fitted in exactly” as a diesel-powered drill would have, working as it is designed to.

“It’s got all the pros that you would expect, just without all the fumes that come out of the diesel engine,” he added. “We always want to be at the forefront of technology and to look for ways to reduce emissions and diesel particulates – and this is one way of doing that.”

Taylor says the roll-out was simplified, as the Sandvik DD422iE charges by using the same electrical infrastructure used to power the rock drills on the diesel-powered jumbos. “The jumbos we currently have use their diesel engines to tram around but are plugged in and the rock drills run off thousand-volt power via a trailing cable,” he says. “There’s was no additional infrastructure because the DD422iE is charging using what’s already there in the diesel version.”

In a typical scenario, the Sandvik battery-electric jumbo will tram to the work site using electricity stored in its battery. While drilling is underway, the battery is recharged via the patented Sandvik Charging While Drilling technology, allowing the machine to tram away once the drilling cycle is completed.

General Manager for Byrnecut Australia, Craig Barendrecht, says the feedback he has received on the drill is positive despite some initial reservations. “It’s fitted in seamlessly and we’ve had no dramas with operating a battery drill amongst the standard diesel fleet.”

Barendrecht says with Byrnecut planning to increase their battery-electric equipment fleet, the performance of the jumbo is encouraging. “We’ve never previously seen a massive market for the battery jumbo because of the restrictions around tramming distances,” he says. “This is helping to dispel some of those preconceived concerns with how to actually fit an electric jumbo in amongst the traditional diesel fleet.

“This is just an incremental step in getting to that ultimate point where we run a full electric fleet of drills and loaders and trucks.”

Maintenance Superintendent, Mark Noden, says there was an initial learning curve around maintenance requirements for the battery electric rig. However, from an operator perspective it is simple to step from the diesel model to the electric. “I have had no complaints and the support from Sandvik is always good,” he says.

Nathan Cunningham, Business Line Manager for Underground Drills at Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions, says Byrnecut has consistently demonstrated that it is a forward-thinking mining business, and the purchase of the Sandvik DD422iE reinforces this. “Byrnecut’s trust in the Sandvik product has paid off with the rig operating exactly as it was expected to.”

MacLean and Sandvik making headway on automation zone interoperability

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Sandvik and MacLean have completed the first phase of a collaboration to provide mining companies with more options for expanding automation in the underground environment, they say.

MacLean and Sandvik are working together to improve automation zone interoperability of production and support fleets, with the installation of the Sandvik AutoMine® system at the MacLean Research & Training Facility and the demonstration of a surface-controlled MacLean utility vehicle, a BT5 Boom Truck, activating multiple AutoMine automation zones delimited with light curtain safety gates.

With this phase now complete, the first key steps in the companies’ interoperability collaboration have been successfully achieved: automation communications infrastructure installation and the testing of a piece of non-Sandvik mining equipment activating the safety gate system.

In a separate press release, Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions referred to its part of this solution as AutoMine Interoperable Access Control System (ACS), a new feature for its AutoMine Core underground system for autonomous mining operations. Designed to improve productivity and increase operational flexibility, this new capability builds on the proven AutoMine Flexible Safety Zone by enabling non-Sandvik, third-party autonomous equipment to operate seamlessly in AutoMine access-controlled isolated zones, it said.

The solution enables a mixed fleet of underground loaders, trucks, drills and auxiliary equipment to be managed with one seamless safety system, as long as third-party equipment designs conform to the functional safety requirements specified for AutoMine operations. Non-Sandvik equipment can be retrofitted with an AutoMine ACS Onboard Box to provide the needed interface between ACS and the machine’s safety circuit, according to the OEM.

AutoMine Interoperable ACS, Sandvik says, increases the flexibility between Sandvik automated equipment and third-party equipment by allowing access to a shared automated zone at different times. Each machine can be independently controlled by its own system while operating within the unified AutoMine Interoperable ACS system. This leverages optimised control of each OEM’s machine while maintaining a safer working environment.

Patrice Corneau, MacLean Director of Advanced Vehicles and Technology, said: “If we want to advance the mine of the future where an increasing amount and complexity of automation is available as an option for mining customers around the globe, we need to work differently. Realising that broader, longer-term goal will require collaboration between original equipment manufacturers in the industry, who historically have perceived each other primarily as competitors as opposed to mining technology development co-practitioners.

“This collaboration between MacLean and Sandvik embodies that new way of thinking about the mine of the future and how mining equipment manufacturers can help successfully deliver it to mining companies.”

Robert McEwan, Product Line Manager, Automation, Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions, said: “While we are confident that customers will achieve optimal performance with Sandvik equipment, we understand the importance of maximising automation’s potential across all equipment, regardless of manufacturer. This technology enables mixed-fleet customers to benefit from enhanced safety and improved productivity with the support of AutoMine.”

DMC Mining acquires Sandvik DD422i development jumbo for Victoria project

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DMC Mining Services has introduced a Sandvik DD422i development jumbo with dual controls to its flagship Victoria project in Ontario, Canada, it has confirmed.

Michal Marcin Jezioro, Managing Director and CEO of DMC, said: “We are thrilled to introduce this new jumbo to our clients. This product represents a significant advancement in the mining industry, and we are honoured to be one of the first contractors in the region to offer its services.

“Our team will be working closely with Sandvik to aid in the research and development of the drill, with the intention of further optimising the installation of a variety of ground support means.”

DMC has been contracted to engineer, design, procure, fabricate, complete and commission the works associated with the execution of the Advanced Exploration Phase of the Victoria project. “That entails the early works construction, sinking of the exploration shaft, lateral development, definition drilling and bulk sample collection,” Jezioro told IM last year.

The cutting diameter of the exploration shaft is 7.3 m, with the finished diameter of the fullylined shaft being 6.7 m.

The Victoria project is based on the construction of an underground copper and nickel mine. Based on analytical work carried out in 2017, the baseline scenario assumes two phases of development of the Victoria project,
including the sinking of the first shaft, with additional exploration work and, later, the sinking of the production shaft.

DMC has implemented a phased construction approach at the project that enables it to execute shaft activities while preparing for the subsequent phases of exploration, ramp up and mine production.

DMC said: “As a leader in the mining industry, we continually strive to improve our operations, enhance our productivity and ensure safe operations. This addition is expected to do just that.”

Key features of the Sandvik DD422i highlighted by DMC include:

  • Dual feed designed to support multiple applications of drilling activities;
  • Increased safety by removing the operator from working near unsupported ground at the face;
  • Reduction in overall cycle times resulting in productivity gains; and
  • Use of one single piece of equipment allowing for standardised spares and a single OEM.

Sandvik introduces AutoMine Lifecycle Support Solutions to maximise automation benefits

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Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions has introduced AutoMine® Lifecycle Support Solutions, a scalable service designed to, the company says, ensure comprehensive aftermarket technology support for existing and new AutoMine customers, improving uptime and providing continuous process optimisation.

AutoMine Lifecycle Support Solutions is backed by Sandvik’s global network of service centres, offering flexible, scalable and customised solutions tailored to meet a customer’s unique automation needs, Sandvik says. The scalable solution accelerates return on automation investment, reduces automated production process downtime, improves productivity and develops operator competence while providing lifecycle support for business-critical automation processes.

The aftermarket service solution offers a variety of support options, centred on the three pillars of successful technology implementation: automation, competence and operations. It also includes access to a 24/7 service ticketing portal, with standardised service level KPI metrics. Available in a range of cost-effective packages, the solution features on-site or remote expert support services, competence development, software release deployment, annual automation performance reviews and digital mining excellence advisory services – enabling customers to optimise their use of AutoMine by improving skills and processes.

“We have developed this service to support customers in maximising the benefits of their automation investments and to provide them with an improved aftermarket support experience for automation technology,” Niel McCoy, Director Global Aftermarket Automation at Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions, said. “That means added value through improvements in productivity and use of AutoMine capabilities through training, online troubleshooting resources and global support network. This solution also provides customers with the tools to plan ahead for their AutoMine spare parts, helping them prevent downtime and get production up and running as quickly as possible.”

Bolting operations with Sandvik DD422iE battery-electric rig commence at McIlvenna Bay

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The underground mining team at the McIlvenna Bay project in Saskatchewan, Canada, has reached a major milestone by installing the first resin anchored rebar bolts with the Sandvik DD422iE rig, the OEM reports.

This battery-powered machine – which carries out tramming on battery and plugs into the mine grid for face operations – is a multi-purpose jumbo that allows miners to bolt and bore with a single machine. This results in a significantly reduced overall cycle time that supports rapid development, Sandvik says.

Back in 2022, Sandvik announced it would supply a fleet of 20 battery-electric vehicles (BEVs), including trucks, loaders and drills, for the project in what was its biggest battery-electric vehicle order to date.

Among this 20-strong fleet was seven Sandvik 18-t-payload LH518B loaders, six Sandvik 50-t-payload TH550B trucks, four Sandvik DD422iE jumbo drill rigs, two Sandvik DL422iE longhole drills and one Sandvik DS412iE mechanical bolter.

The owner of the mine, Foran Mining, is putting these machines to work alongside help from contractor Procon Mining and Tunnelling.

Sandvik and Glencore to explore second life for BEV batteries with energy storage system pilot

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In another move towards further electrifying mining operations, Sandvik has initiated a pilot project to deploy a second-life battery energy storage system (BESS) at to-be-determined Glencore assets.

The BESS is expected to support mine services such as lighting and light EV charging at the Glencore operations. Sandvik will study additional use cases during the pilot, including power shifting, peak shaving and arbitrage, it says.

Sandvik’s technology partner in the project is ECO STOR AS, a second-life energy storage system provider. ECO STOR will use its BESS expertise to develop the solution with modules recovered from Sandvik BEVs that have reached their optimal use in mobile mining applications.

“The modularity of our battery packs provides a strong foundation to build energy storage systems from second-life modules and create a valuable use for ‘used’ batteries,” said Ville Laine, Vice President, Batteries and Chargers at Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions.

The BESS will be constructed as an industrial 20-foot (6.1-m) container holding 128 Sandvik battery modules. The nominal energy of the system is expected to be around 1 MWH. The container includes Sandvik systems for battery management and monitoring as well as systems for energy management and fire detection and prevention.

“Modules can be easily replaced when they reach the end of their second life,” Laine said. “Ensuring the batteries that power our mining equipment are used to their full potential before being recycled improves circularity and substantially reduces our carbon footprint.”

According to Alvaro Baeza, Glencore’s Decarbonization Manager for Copper Assets, openness and collaboration among industry partners is crucial to finding solutions for electrification implementation challenges.

“Circularity and recycling are at the core of our business model and we look forward to working with Sandvik on this project that is well aligned with both transition challenges and our business focus,” Baeza said.

Sandvik aims to deploy the prototype BESS container at a Glencore asset in 2025, with the ambition to launch a commercialised solution in 2026.

“Due to such early adoption of our battery systems in mines around the world, thousands of modules will reach the end of their first life over the next few years,” Laine said. “These modules still hold as much as 70% of their original energy storage capacity when they reach the end of their optimal use in a mining loader or truck. Utilising this remaining capacity in a stationary energy storage solution is a win-win, providing both environmental and economic benefits. We can as much as double the useful life of our batteries and optimize their full lifecycle.”

Once commercialised, Sandvik plans to assemble each BESS as close as possible to a customer’s mine, reducing shipping and further improving sustainability.

Sandvik poised to complete SP Mining integration

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Following its acquisition of the Schenck Process mining related business in November 2022, Sandvik has been working hard behind the scenes to bring its new offering and capabilities to market, with the OEM poised to complete the integration.

In October last year, Sandvik reached a key milestone in the integration of Schenck Process Mining into its Rock Processing Solutions Business area, when the company changed the names of the legal entities that came with the Schenck Process acquisition. The newly acquired entities provide Sandvik Rock Processing with a much better global reach, particularly in geographies where it previously had little presence.

This is especially true in Australia, where Sandvik Rock Processing only had a small team, while SP Mining had the majority of its engineering and R&D teams as well as production and service facilities in Australia. Schenck Process Australia, which employed over 400 people, became Sandvik Rock Processing Australia, now a major hub for Sandvik’s global Screening Solutions Division.

Since the renaming of the legal entities, the integration of the SP Mining business around the world has been a key focus area for the company. Part of this work includes the rebranding of all aspects of the business. In parallel the SP Mining and Kwatani equipment offerings have been united under the Sandvik brand. The company says the result is an unparalleled range of vibrating screens, feeders, screening media and train loaders.

In early May, the company achieved another key integration milestone, shipping out the first Sandvik-branded SP Mining screen from its Jandakot production facility in Western Australia. Pleased with the result, Sandvik’s Global Head of Marketing – Screening Solutions, Peter Newfield, previously Head of Marketing APAC for SP Mining, said: “Apart from the change to the look, branding and Sandvik nomenclature, nothing else has changed. Our legendary reliability, technology and aftermarket support remains as our customers have come to expect.

“We are now better equipped than ever to help our customers to optimise their comminution and material handling operations for maximum performance, safety and efficiency.”

Commenting on the company’s new offer, Newfield says that combining the industry-leading screening, feeding and loading expertise of Schenck Process Mining and Kwatani with Sandvik’s mastery of crushing and wear protection, allows the company to bring an unrivalled equipment line-up to market.

“This unique offering is underpinned by the expert process knowledge of our teams, a full range of digital tools, high quality OEM spare parts, consumables and lifecycle services,” he added.

But the integration isn’t just limited to the equipment. Newfield says that it has been a major project that involves every part of the business. In essence, the acquired Schenck Process entities have become Sandvik Rock Processing entities, and so SP Mining staff had to embrace the Sandvik culture and learn the company’s systems and ways of working.

“Of course, a big part of the integration is making sure that our key stakeholders understand the benefits of us becoming a fully integrated part of Sandvik,” Newfield says. “It takes time for people to adjust to change, and they need to know what is happening throughout the process. We have worked hard to communicate the changes to all our key stakeholders including our customers and employees.

“We are now changing the branding of all our Australian facilities, our motor vehicles and the work clothes that our people wear on the job every day. Our website and other marketing collateral is also being changed to showcase our new product offerings and brand.”

Newfield says he expects the rebranding projects to be complete by the end of June, which is the final step in the integration process.

“Our new offering, along with the advances that our combined R&D teams are making, allow us to partner with our customers to address our industry’s biggest challenge – making mineral processing more eco-efficient.”