Pedestrian Safety the Focus of Underground Mine Technology Partnership

Between 2008 and 2018, there were 12 fatalities that involved HVs in the underground mining industry in Western Australia. Seven of those deaths were pedestrians.

This statistic is a reminder that these mining machines – that weigh a minimum of 4.5 tonnes and operate in areas of poor visibility – are a significant risk factor for people who work in close proximity to them in an underground environment.

As one of the world’s leading underground mining contractors, Barminco currently operates 25 projects in seven countries and employs more than 5,600 people. Almost all of these employees will be exposed to a working HV during their career. In fact, every hour of every day of the year, there are approximately 2,000 Barminco employees working underground interacting with heavy vehicles.

Barminco’s scale and underground mining expertise, combined with Newtrax’s leading-edge capability to develop collision avoidance systems and the high penetration of Sandvik HVs featuring advanced controls, means this partnership is uniquely positioned to understand how people and equipment interact in underground mines.

Newtrax has developed a collision avoidance system that links “intelligent” cap lamps to the warning system inside the cab of an underground HV. The system provides the vehicle operator with virtual visibility of any pedestrians in the immediate area of their vehicle, along with an escalated warning system to both the pedestrian and operator as the distance between them reduces. This escalation transitions from warning to vehicle intervention, where the HV automatically reduces speed and comes to a controlled stop, when the system senses any pedestrian wearing an intelligent cap lamp in the high-risk zone.

Under the partnership, Newtrax will deploy its next-generation Level 9 Collision Avoidance System across Barminco’s Sandvik fleet, including the supply of intelligent cap lamps with advanced electronic safety features to Barminco’s underground mines. The technology is due to undergo initial testing at one of Barminco’s underground sites in January 2022.

Paul Muller, Perenti Chief Executive Officer, Mining, said the focus of the project was twofold - the safety of its people and the sustainable adoption of the technology industry-wide.

“The exposure of pedestrians to heavy vehicles underground is a significant risk not just for us, but for everyone involved in the underground mining industry,” Mr Muller said.

“The combination of Newtrax’s technology, our underground operating experience and Sandvik’s role in supplying heavy mining vehicles can put us in a position to offer the entire industry a smart solution to a complex problem.”

Simon Waghorn, Newtrax Regional Vice President – APAC, said the collaboration with Barminco would provide the partners with real-world experience that would help optimise the system as it develops.

“Although the Newtrax Collision Avoidance System is the best available system on the market, many more enhancements are required to accelerate adoption,” Waghorn said. “This partnership with Barminco, a world-class underground hard rock mining contractor, will enable collaborative product development which will result in an even better product for the industry.”

“Barminco is a very important customer for Sandvik and we are pleased to take on the challenge to develop and deliver the industry-leading intervention controllers, to enable slow-to-stop control of the equipment in Barminco’s fleet,” said Wayne Scrivens, Vice President – Sales Area APAC, Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions.

Perth, Australia, 6 December 2021

For further information contact:

Paul Ryan
(Perenti / Barminco) Citadel-MAGNUS,
Email: pryan@citadelmagnus.com

Fernando Abad
Marketing & Communications Manager Newtrax Technologies Inc.
Email: fabad@newtrax.com

Kate Bills
Sustainable Business, Marketing & Communications Manager
Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions, Sales Area APAC
Email: kate.bills@sandvik.com
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About Barminco
Barminco is one of the world’s largest hard rock underground mining services companies, with operations in Australia, Africa and North America. The company is renowned for being global leaders in high-speed development and mining production. With a large professional workforce and equipment fleet Barminco can mobilise quickly and deliver day-in and day-out for its customers. Established more than 30 years ago in Kalgoorlie the company is still successfully operating today, with more than 5,600 employees, as part of Perenti’s mining industry sector group.

About Perenti
Perenti is a diversified global mining services group with businesses in surface mining, underground mining and mining support services. The Group was founded in Kalgoorlie in 1987 and is today one of the world’s largest mining service companies providing surface and underground mining at scale. Headquartered in Perth, Australia, Perenti has operations and offices in 12 countries across four continents, employs 8,000 people and is creating enduring value and certainty for clients on some of the world’s largest mining projects. Perenti’s operational businesses include African Mining Services, African Underground Mining Services, Ausdrill, Barminco, BTP, Logistics Direct, MinAnalytical, Supply Direct and Well Control Solutions.

About Newtrax Technologies Inc
Newtrax Technologies Inc. is the global leader in wireless IoT, safety, and productivity solutions for the global underground hard rock mining industry. Newtrax customers are the largest producers of metals in the world and their underground hard rock mechanized mines rely on Newtrax systems to save lives, reduce costs and increase production with unprecedented levels of real-time data from machines, people and the environment.Newtrax is owned by Sandvik Group, a global leader renowned for stringent safety integrity in producing the underground HVs that comprise the majority of Barminco’s extensive fleet.

Sandvik Group
Sandvik is a high-tech and global engineering group offering products and services that enhance customer productivity, profitability and safety. We hold world-leading positions in selected areas – tools and tooling systems for metal cutting; equipment and tools, service and technical solutions for the mining industry and rock excavation within the construction industry; products in advanced stainless steels and special alloys as well as products for industrial heating. In 2020, the Group had approximately 37,000 employees and revenues of about 86 billion SEK in more than 160 countries within continuing operations.

Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions
Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions is a business area within the Sandvik Group and a global leading supplier of equipment and tools, parts, service, digital solutions and sustainability-driving technologies for the mining and construction industries. Application areas include rock drilling, rock cutting, loading and hauling, tunnelling and quarrying. In 2020, sales were approximately 33.6 billion SEK with about 12,500 employees within continuing operations.