Swedish mining equipment maker Sandvik is adding Polymathian Industrial Mathematics to its growing digital mining technologies arm, built around A$900 million acquisition, Deswik. Deswik and Polymathian are both based in Brisbane, Australia.
Sandvik’s digital mining business is part of its Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions (SMR) segment.
Polymathian’s mathematician founders Dr Ben Hollis, Jonathon White and Steven Donaldson worked together at another Brisbane software firm, Biarri, before forming their company in 2013. Mining is a core market for Polymathian, said to employ more than 50 data scientists and turn over circa-US$10 million a year.
The founders/directors claim Polymathian is a world leader in the “application of numerical optimisation, simulation, machine learning and statistical analysis to complex problems faced by industry”.
Sandvik said Polymathian automated decision-making and process optimisation software complemented Deswik mine planning products. The former’s products include its popular Orb mining optimisation platform. The company also has logistics, transport, energy, commodity blending and other optimisation programs. It is said to have more than 60 main customers.
“Polymathian is a great addition to Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions, and enables SMR to now have a unique digital portfolio that will help our customers to optimise their data-driven operations across the value chain and ensure their mine design is fully compatible with technologies like [Sandvik] AutoMine and battery electric vehicles,” SMR president Mats Eriksson said.
Sandvik said Polymathian c40% EBITA margin would deliver accretive earnings.
The deal is expected to close during the first quarter of 2023.
