Hexagon AB, a global leader in digital reality solutions, combining sensor, software and autonomous technologies, has announced its latest acquisition of WA miningtech startup Minnovare, a leading provider of drilling technology that improves the speed, cost and accuracy of underground drilling.
Minnovare Managing Director, Callum McCracken, who co-founded the WA-based company in 2012 says that it is “exciting times ahead” for Minnovare as they “embark on the next leg of the company’s growth”.
I would like to extend a huge thank you to our team for their continued hard work and dedication, without which this milestone could not have been achieved, our customers and to the Hexagon team for their extremely warm welcome.
Being part of Hexagon will provide Minnovare with established global channels and an engaged customer base, which will enable us to deliver our industry leading technology and downstream benefits to mining companies across the world
Callum McCracken
The company will join the mining division of Hexagon to accelerate and enhance Hexagon’s underground development roadmap as well as strengthening their formidable drill and blast portfolio, as mentioned by Hexagon’s Mining division Chief Technology Officer, Rob Daw.
Mr Daw also mentions that “the integration of Minnovare’s innovative mining solutions will be invaluable for customers striving to improve the speed, cost and accuracy of underground drilling”.
This is another acquisition of a WA mining tech for Hexagon, having bought MiPlan in 2018. Husband and wife team Rob and Louise Daw spoke about this on the ‘Startup West’ podcast late last year, with Rob later becoming CTO of Hexagon Mining.
About Minnovare
Minnovare was the brainchild of Callum McCracken and Mick Beilby who worked in the downhole instrumentation space, therefore spending a lot of time on site. The pair identified that the process used to set up a drill was highly labour intensive, time-consuming and inaccurate. Upon engaging with geologists and drillers to better understand the problem, they realised the current process was also prone to human error and reduced available time for drilling each shift.
The company has since expanded, launching globally in 2015 servicing customers across the world from their Australian and Canadian bases. Their products specialise in eliminating the manual, unproductive processes in underground mining that lead to blast-hole deviation, dilution and downtime.
Its advanced hardware and data-capture software combine to deliver drill data faster and more accurately than ever before -improving the efficiency, productivity and overall profitability of underground drilling operations. Its solution combines sensors, software and data analytics to address deficiencies in existing drilling processes across the resource definition, development and production phases.
