Sandvik adds Deswik software expertise

Multinational engineering company Sandvik AB Dec. 2 signed an agreement to acquire Australia-based Deswik Mining Consultants (Australia) Pty Ltd., a leading software company that will add to Sandvik's portfolio of specialized expertise for the mining industry.

Founded in 2008, Deswik saw significant growth in its early years, despite mining downturn and the global financial crisis, expanding into the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, South Africa, Russia, Peru, Chile, and Brazil.

Their original vision, "to create a next-generation mine planning platform without the legacy and limitations of the old general mine planning (GMP) systems," was realized and built into more than its founders could have expected.

By acquiring Deswik, Sandvik has gained a top-tier supplier of integrated software platforms that support digitalization throughout mine planning stages – with more than 10,000 current licenses.

"Deswik's second to none software suite combined with Sandvik's digital automation offering creates a clear world leader in digital solutions for the mining industry," said Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions President Henrik Ager.

The Australia software company is expected to fill a value chain gap in Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions' offering, increasing upstream mining coverage and enabling opportunities for end-to-end optimization solutions; for example, incorporating electrification at the mine planning stage.

"Combining Deswik's skills in mine planning and scheduling with our equipment and automation expertise will open new opportunities for optimizing our customers' mining value chain," Ager added.

Deswik will form one of three cornerstones in Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions' newly created Digital Mining Technologies division, established to accelerate the execution of Sandvik's strategic priority to lead the industry development of underground mine sustainability and productivity solutions in electrification, automation, digitalization, and end-to-end optimization.

"I am very pleased that we continue to execute on our shift to growth strategy, and continue to broaden our offering with digital solutions that increase productivity in the customer's value chain," said Stefan Widing, president and CEO of Sandvik. "Mine planning and operations management is a key growth opportunity, and this complementary acquisition and our new Digital Mining Technologies division will strengthen our digital offering and enable us to provide customers a more comprehensive suite of technologies."

Deswik currently has approximately 300 employees and operates 14 offices in 10 countries while also demonstrating strong and profitable growth over the past decade in the growing mining software market.

The transaction is expected to close during first quarter 2022.