Driving workplace health and safety underground

With the acquisition of DSI Underground, Sandvik will continue to work toward increasing safety in underground mining and tunnel construction environments.

Keeping miners and tunneling workers safe has always been a top priority for the mining industry. Despite mining and construction companies implementing systems and processes to support a “zero harm” approach, incidents and injuries still occur.

In December 2020, Sandvik announced that it would acquire DSI Underground, a world-leading supplier of ground support products, systems and solutions for the underground mining and tunneling industry. The company provides a wide range of ground support and reinforcement products, systems and solutions. The acquisition, one of the largest in the history of Sandvik, was finalized in July 2021.

Workplace health and safety is paramount

“Safe and reliable ground support products and services are essential for the mining and tunneling industries,” says Derek Hird, CEO for DSI Underground’s Asia Pacific region. “DSI Underground’s products are critical to productivity and a safe working environment by supporting the roof underground.”

DSI Underground Regional CEO Derek Hird

DSI Underground has an established history of focusing on technical innovation. “We have a long pipeline of technical developments, ranging from product enhancements through to next-generation products such as self-drilling injectable bolts,” Hird says. “As mines go deeper and the need for higher capacity support increases, our R&D team can assist with the design and testing.”

As well as focusing on product development, DSI Underground focuses on manufacturing improvement and capital investments in its factories to ensure they drive internal efficiencies in manufacturing.

Digitalization and automation will be increasingly essential in making underground mining safer, more efficient and sustainable. However, ground support installation lags behind other processes in the underground excavation cycle in these areas.

DSI Underground's history of technical innovation is increasing workplace health and safety.

“This is where DSI Underground becoming part of Sandvik will make a difference,” says Michael Reich, President of the new ground support division at Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions, formed out of DSI Underground. “Together we will be a full-service provider to the underground excavation process,” he says. “We will leverage a combination of equipment, drilling technology and ground support to improve the safety and speed of ground support installation, unlocking value for our customers."