Innovations creating customer value

Through automation, electrification and the latest technologies, we are making mining cleaner, safer and more efficient. Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions is leading this transformation with a wide portfolio of connected products and solutions.

Our battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) are transforming the future of underground mining. During the year we launched several new products, including the battery-electric truck Sandvik® TH550B. This offering includes AutoSwap™, a system that accelerates and simplifies the battery swapping process, allowing batteries to be swapped as fast as in three minutes.

Sandvik has a three-year partnership with Barrick, operator of the single-largest gold-producing complex in the world, to trial BEVs equipped with AutoSwap for the company’s underground hard rock mining. Already after the first month in operation, the loader fleet and the truck fleet experienced an increase in engine hours.

During the year, the first Sandvik® LH518B BEV was introduced at the New Afton gold and copper mine in Canada. The electric fleet is an important step in helping the mine achieve its greenhouse gas reduction targets. The mine has calculated a 90 percent reduction in energy costs for a 400-horsepower BEV versus an equivalent diesel loader.

In 2021, we launched our Top Hammer XL drilling system, which expands the hole size range of top hammer drilling technology up to 178 millimeters. The highly effective drilling technology offers a 50 percent reduction in fuel consumption, a 25 percent reduction in total drilling costs and a 15 percent increase in productivity.