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    Sandvik battery-electric surface drill at Lloyds Metals: duty cycle insights for mine planners

    May 22, 2026|

    Reviewed by Joe Ashwell

    Sandvik battery-electric surface drill at Lloyds Metals: duty cycle insights for mine planners

    First reported on International Mining – News

    30 Second Briefing

    Sandvik’s battery-electric surface concept drill, which recently completed 17.5 km of drilling in 542 operating hours at Boliden’s Kevitsa open pit in Finland, is now heading for field trials at Lloyds Metals operations in India. The rig is designed for down-the-hole (DTH) production drilling with hole diameters up to 229 mm, targeting typical surface bench applications currently dominated by diesel units. For mine planners and maintenance teams, the trial will give real-world data on energy consumption, duty cycles and potential reductions in fuel logistics and local emissions.

    Technical Brief

    • Concept drill is configured for down-the-hole (DTH) production drilling up to 229 mm diameter holes.
    • Battery-electric powertrain removes on-board diesel engine, shifting energy supply to grid or charging infrastructure.
    • Surface configuration targets bench drilling patterns typical of large open pits and contract mining fleets.
    • For mine planning, battery-electric DTH units could decouple drilling capacity from diesel fuel supply chain constraints.

    Our Take

    The 542 hours and 17.5 km of drilling logged at Boliden’s Kevitsa mine give Sandvik a rare, production-scale dataset for battery-electric surface drilling, which can be leveraged across the wider Sandvik Mining customer base highlighted in recent orders such as the Segovia gold operations in Colombia.

    With Sandvik’s Digital Mining Technologies division now rolling out interoperable systems for underground fleets, a battery-electric surface concept drill at Lloyds Metals ops signals that Sandvik is likely positioning for integrated, pit-to-plant electrification and data capture rather than treating surface and underground as separate technology silos.

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    Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.

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