Newtrax Technologies, a leading provider of safety and productivity systems for underground hard rock mines – has been acquired by Swedish business 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.
The combined expertise of Sandvik and Newtrax will 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 analyzing and optimizing mining production and processes, including OptiMine and My Sandvik.
“By including Newtrax into the Sandvik family, we further strengthen our leading position in areas related to automation and digitalization,” says Henrik Ager, president of Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology.
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 Q4 2016, Newtrax 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.
“By joining Sandvik Group, we can now confidently say that we have the world’s leading digitization solution for underground mining customers,” said Cervinka.
Newtrax generated revenues of approximately $26 million with 120 employees in 2018. Newtrax customers are the largest producers of metals in the world.
This story first appeared in Canadian Mining Journal.