News & Events

2023 was an action-packed year for Deswik with Polymathian Industrial Mathematics joining the team, and the acquisition of MCB Brazil by Sandvik to allow Deswik to gain full control over its Brazilian operations. We continued with our global tour of user events, hosting conferences in Banff (Canada) and Perth (Australia), while also releasing three rebranded solutions (APEX, Spatial and Planning Solutions) to provide even more capabilities in mine planning to help our customers.

Deswik’s former Head of Partnerships and CQUniversity alumnus, Patrick Doig, presented a series of guest lectures to CQUniversity Engineering students and delivered a masterclass on Deswik’s Enviro tools to upskill future mining engineers with the skills to succeed in the industry.

Agnico Eagle, in partnership with Deswik, has achieved significant increases in their development productivity using Deswik.OPS for operational scheduling and tracking at their Laronde Zone (LZ5) mine in Canada.

Mark Vanderbeek, Deswik’s Global Support Manager, discusses the ways that Deswik Support can assist our customers and how to get in touch for quick assistance.

Sandvik acquires MCB, strengthening Deswik’s leading position in Latin American market.

Polymathian joins Deswik following Sandvik’s previously announced acquisition to create a unique digital portfolio centered on digitalizing our customers’ processes.

2022 saw our completed acquisition by Sandvik and the announcement to acquire Polymathian Industrial Mathematics to deliver end-to-end optimization solutions to our mutual customers. In addition to expanding and enhancing our existing software portfolio, 2022 also marked our return to hosting user events, with conferences held in Europe and Australia.

Polymathian has signed an agreement to be acquired by Sandvik and will join Deswik to form part of Sandvik’s Mining and Rock Solutions Business Unit. The joining of Deswik and Polymathian brings together two highly complementary businesses focused on the digitalization and automation of the mining industry.

Traditional scheduling methods identify a single deterministic result, and while it is a best guess, it can be invariably wrong. Watch Todd Vallance and Patrick Doig’s presentation on Stochastic Scheduling from the 2022 Deswik Australia User Conference which can help users understand how achievable their production schedule is, what the critical path is, and how the plan can be better managed.

Deswik will continue to support India in its drive for efficient and sustainable mining operations with a local presence in Gurugram, Haryana.

The question of, ‘What is the ultimate pit limit?’ is one mine planners often ask themselves to ensure a successful project. This article looks at the current methods to solving the pit optimization problem and discusses Direct Block Scheduling as a newer approach that could be the industry’s next step change.

In underground projects with complex operations and mining activities, a traditional Cut-off-Grade can be difficult to determine. Using Pseudoflow in Deswik.Sched, an algorithm similar to the Lerchs-Grossmann model used in Open Pit optimization, ORELOGY helped an active mine with their economic analysis and scheduling phases of an underground plan to maximize project value.

Sandvik has completed the previously announced acquisition of the Australian-based Deswik. As the leading and fastest growing major provider of mine planning software, Deswik will be part of a newly formed division Digital Mining Technologies within business area Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions.

Deswik has partnered with international leading hardware provider RIEGL to deliver a holistic solution for mine surveyors.

In 2021, we continued to develop and extend Deswik.Suite, all the while providing exceptional customer service, support and training. With the addition of Deswik.Apps, and our new series of technical sessions called, ‘Sips & Tips’, 2021 was yet another successful year for our global teams. Discover our infographic!

We are thrilled to announce that Deswik has signed an agreement to be acquired by Sandvik, the high-tech and global engineering group headquartered in Sweden.

The reach of Deswik’s strategic mine planning and design solutions is set to extend deep underground with the acquisition of a suite of apps that will enable operators to access critical, task specific data on a tablet or mobile device while offline, working in underground operations.

Many mines today are struggling with complex processes to align long-term schedule objectives with medium-term and operational schedules. Agnico Eagle in partnership with Deswik have been implementing an approach to solve these problems at their Kittila mine in Finland.

With Deswik.SPD, users can now quickly generate multiple pit designs for any number of optimization runs, compare results and select go-forward cases. Final pit designs which took days to create manually can now be created in minutes, enabling planners to spend less time doing repetitive design tasks and more time analyzing results and evaluating options.

In 2020, we focused on providing excellent customer service, support and training, whilst continuing to develop the Deswik Suite and improve the usability of our software. Check out our infographics!

Deswik has entered a partnership with Australian environmental consultancy RGS Environmental that will allow both companies to deliver comprehensive life of mine planning solutions to their clients.

Deswik.MDM has been in use at the OZ Minerals Prominent Hill site since March 2019, providing critical data management, transparency, and governance for the large volumes of technical data required to keep Prominent Hill operational and productive.

Deswik has partnered with Alicanto Labs, associated with Universidad Adolfo Ibañez (UAI) in Chile, to release Deswik.GO, a comprehensive strategic design and scheduling tool for open-pit mines. Deswik.GO allows strategic mine planners to rapidly optimize the mine shape, phases and sequence for both greenfield sites and existing operations.

The Mine Closure Risk Ratio is proposed as a simple method of measuring Life of Mine risks related to mine closure. This paper looks at the Mine Closure Risk Ratio as a decision support metric used to integrate mine production and closure considerations when evaluating all business plan scenarios.

Deswik’s Auto Designer is one of the most powerful tools in Deswik.CAD, automating repetitive tasks using a simple rules-based approach to allow users to construct rule sets representing design criteria or steps required. This tool has now been extended to support a range of use cases for both underground and surface operations.

Tips for improving Deswik.CAD and Deswik.Sched startup speeds when working over a VPN or slow connection.

A new module in the Deswik.GeoTools suite that allows geologists to apply an automated, optimized process to planning their infill drilling programs, for both Open Pit and Underground operations. By quickly running multiple scenarios, geologists have more time to analyze the outputs and select the highest value drilling plan.

2020.2 Deswik.SO has been updated to support AMS Stope Shape Optimizer version 4. This latest release from AMS features improvements to the SSO algorithm and several major new features and enhancements.

With the increasing amount of operational execution data being generated by mining operations, Deswik has been exploring how to truly integrate operational plan execution with upstream mine planning processes. This paper discusses the people, process, and technology considerations for SIC in mining, and provides a review of several SIC concepts applied in the industry today.

Deswik.MDM makes it possible for technical services professionals to collaborate efficiently and effectively with off-site colleagues whilst maintaining data and approvals integrity.

Conducting road audits is usually a manual and time-consuming process. By using the Deswik Road Audit tool, sites can complete the road audit process much faster, allowing operations to get quicker feedback and free up personnel to complete value-add tasks.

As mining operations seek greater conformance to plan and margins become increasingly tight, end of month (EOM) reporting needs to keep pace with these increasing requirements. This paper provides the mining industry an option for greater analysis of EOM data whilst decreasing the time consuming workload on survey departments.

Deswik has identified communications and software tools that allow consultants to recreate the interactive, collaborative feel of a face-to-face session, and lines of communication are tested in advance, to ensure sessions run smoothly on the day.

Short-term scheduling of an underground mine is a fast-paced, repetitive process. This paper provides some recommendations on best practices to streamline and automate this process.

In 2019, we continued our focus on providing an integrated platform that supports mine design and planning across all planning horizons and the mining value chain. Check out our infographic!

Why Leapfrog and Deswik.Mapping are a winning combination for resource geology teams: an underground mapping to implicit modeling workflow.

As a number of survey departments make the transition to Deswik, we are seeing an increased interest in the open pit survey tools that Deswik has to offer. This blog post shows some open pit-based workflows that survey departments may have to perform.

The Deswik.Mapping app has been in use at Vale’s Ontario sites since March 2019. With their technical staff now working from one consistent platform, the use of the app has introduced consistency and rigour to their geological mapping processes.

A new set of tools for geological mapping and sampling, Deswik.GeoTools integrates seamlessly with the Deswik Suite and is designed to improve efficiency by eliminating the double handling of data.

Deswik has stepped up its overseas expansion push by taking a minority stake in its longstanding Brazilian reseller partner MCB Services and Minerals.

The Group’s Open Mining Format (OMF) interoperability project is developing an open 3D data exchange format to enable complex files to be shared seamlessly between third party mining solutions, and encouraging vendors to adopt them.

This article looks at the applicability of introducing buffer tasks to a schedule, in order to apply the Theory of Constraints and suggest alternates. Find out why the recommended approach is to analyze mining “stocks” and ensure that the correct mining rate is being applied, rather than introducing buffer tasks.

We continue to work hard to provide an integrated platform that supports mine design and planning across all planning horizons and the mining value chain. We’ve put together a series of videos to showcase our key highlights from the past twelve months. Check them out!

Designed to handle large amounts of scanned survey point data and automate the process of creating valid solids from it, Deswik.AdvSurvey is built to meet the changing scope of survey in mining.

Deswik.CAD users have some powerful in-built survey functionality at their fingertips. Here is a short compilation of some useful tips for making the most out of Deswik.CAD for surveying purposes and some standard CAD tips for all users.

This paper provides recommendations for optimizing critical path by managing shared locations and materials in underground construction projects.

In 2018, we continued to extend our software’s capability and focus on usability to make our users’ lives easier. We remain dedicated to our user community with increased support, free online training and new user events to be launched globally.

This paper has been written to introduce new mining engineers to mineral resource block models: their structure, the brands they may come across, the types they may come across, and issues that they will need to understand to avoid mistakes in their use.

For the past five years, Lewis Meyer has taught Deswik software at the Camborne School of Mines at the University of Exeter. As Senior Lecturer in Mining Engineering, 257 students have graduated from Lewis’s Deswik course which consistently receives rave reviews from students.

This article, recently published in Global Mining Review, describes the modeling techniques tried and tested at an Australian mine. The mine needed a solution to produce a 3D visual landform which, while reducing costs, could also achieve desired rehabilitation objectives.

The latest upgrade of Deswik is set to change how engineers plan their mine while considering haulage constraints and landform development.

We are pleased to invite our customers and partners from throughout Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo to see first-hand the value Deswik’s applications offer the Copperbelt region.

Triangle Slope Markers provide a simple, graphical tool to quickly demonstrate the behavior of surfaces and solids based on the user requirements.

We’re pleased to welcome drill and blast technology manufacturer Minnovare as an integration partner, as part of our commitment to providing a flexible and integrated mine planning platform.

With the prevalence of UAVs within the mining industry, operations now have at their disposal unprecedented amounts of data to use. Turning this data into usable and valuable information is the key to providing value.

Two experts on technology and change management will be heading the lineup for the Deswik User Conference 2018.

The upcoming Life-of-Mine Conference has proven to be the perfect partnership for Deswik, who are proud to be a gold sponsor of the event being held in Brisbane on July 25 to 27.

This article looks at the impact of scheduling site trucks filled with dry tonnes from the block model rather than wet tonnes required by the trucking simulation.

Is the industry standard practice of modelling trucking using the ramp centre-line, versus using the actual truck path an issue or not?

This article has been written specifically for those who are new to pit design and may need some advice on how to undertake a pit design.

It can be tough being a newcomer in an established industry but, after ten years in business, we have proved our staying power.

Deswik continues to bridge the gap between geology and mine planning. A new collaboration with Imago will extend the capability of Deswik’s operational geology platform.

In 2017, we continued to work hard to improve and expand our support services for our users around the world. We’ve introduced many new tools and enhancements…

Earlier this year, we released our short-range ore control modeling & design tool, Deswik.OPSTS to allow open pit mine planners to quickly produce short-term production plans from a single pit shell solid.

In 2017 there have been over 50 enhancements added to the roadmap and at present over 60% of them have been added into the CAD platform.

Deswik is pleased to support the RCL Accelerator program which provides funding, mentoring and support to start-ups in Brisbane, Australia.

Integrating landform engineering and closure cost calculations into your tactical mine planning delivers a more complete, overall view of the value of a project.

The Deswik Unifed File format (.DUF) is a new file format for faster loading and saving of CAD files. The bigger the file, the bigger the performance improvement

Maximize the value of your operation by optimizing the decision of where to send mined material across multiple periods.

Our joint work with University Adolfo Ibáñez in Chile was recently recognized through the awarding of the Chilean National Prize of Technologic Transfer.

A technology preview of Deswik.LHS Underground is now available. Create your underground haulage network from your 3D mine model, and directly integrated with your schedule.

Originally published in the Tenth International Mining Geology Conference 2017 Proceedings, this paper reviews automated joint mapping techniques using the concentric shells algorithm.

Deswik is pleased to take part in the Austmine Women in STEM: METS Career Pathway Program, aiming to support and promote women in STEM while improving gender diversity in the METS sector.

Deswik will be at the Australian Institute of Mine Surveyors conference next month to showcase Deswik.CAD’s survey capability and upcoming enhancements.

Deswik is pleased to announce the release of Deswik.Suite 2017.1, a major release featuring 254 enhancements and two new modules.

What are the plotting elements and how do they fit together? In this two-part video series, we take you through an overview of our key plotting functions with tips on how to best set them up to minimize data replication.

9th – 11th May 2017. We invite our users and partners to join us in Skellefteå, Sweden for an informative two-day event on the latest industry trends and Deswik software advances.

Everything you wanted to know about Pseudoflow but were afraid to ask… A discussion of Deswik Pseudoflow pit optimization in comparison to Whittle LG pit optimization.

Our awesome software team continues to deliver powerful tools for our users. Here’s a snapshot of the enhancements for the year…

Deswik announces the launch of Deswik.OPS, their new operational shift planning and tracking tool, which is set to revolutionize the way mines manage their daily operations.

Nova Project have been using Deswik.CAD’s reconciliation tool for their End-of-Month process. This has resulted in a higher quality report for the contractor on site and significant time savings.

Deswik announces the inclusion of new mobile 3D scanning tools in its upcoming software release, version 2016.2.

We’re pleased to announce that Wayne Romer has been selected as a national finalist in the 2016 EY Entrepreneur of The Year awards.

We often get asked about running Deswik.Suite on virtualized platforms (VDI). Whilst technically challenging, it is still possible to run it effectively on a VDI platform under very specific conditions.

Three months on since the release of Deswik.Suite 2016.1, we continue to explore some of the 2016.1 enhancements, with a selection of our team’s favorite new tools.

In a compelling article recently published in World Coal, Neil Tyson details ways to improve dragline engineering and in turn improve planning cycle time and mitigate complex risks.

Deswik will officially launch and showcase its new caving tool to the underground mining industry at MassMin 2016

Deswik.Sched has come a long way from version 1.2 where resource leveling could only be done on task priorities. There’s now three major leveling algorithms which support a myriad of features.

Deswik is pleased to announce the release of Deswik.Suite 2016.1, a major release featuring 141 enhancements and two exciting new products.

Deswik.CAD now features in-built survey functions, commonly used by underground surveyors internationally.

Graphics are now supported in the scheduler. The task graphics can be saved in the scheduler file and Deswik.Sched can be used stand-alone with animations.

In conjunction with MiningWorld Russia 2016, Deswik will run a half-day seminar on “Solutions for effective mine planning“ on 27th April.

2015 has been another busy year for our software team. We take a look back at our major achievements:

With Deswik’s assistance, Anglo American’s Dawson mine managed to achieve significant haulage and engineering productivity improvements, directly reducing their cost per tonne of coal.

In Deswik.Suite 2016.1, users will be able to export a network of tunnels directly from Deswik.CAD to a native Ventsim file.

Plenty of new tools and features to look forward to in 2016 with the next release of Deswik.Suite. Find out more…

This article outlines outlines our application virtualisation solution for rapid deployment of Deswik.Suite updates

Things have been busy for Deswik South America since the opening of our Santiago office (Chile). This month we continue to spread the word at key mining events in the region.

Version 5.1 of the Deswik Suite is now available, featuring over 200 enhancements. Highlights for this release include…

Process maps have become a very important part of Deswik’s implementation strategy. They provide an easy, non-scripted solution to building streamlining repetitive tasks.

This article explains the development methodology and release process for Deswik.Suite – and in particular why we release new versions and patches so frequently.

Minimizing risk of acid mine drainage: discover the techniques for integration of production and destination scheduling for planning engineered waste rock dumps and tailings management.

Deswik has been announced as an ABA100 Winner for Product Innovation and Product Excellence in the Australian Business Awards 2015.

Deswik launches Deswik.DD, a sectional design & analysis tool for design, optimisation and communication for dragline or dozer push operations.

We are pleased to announce our expansion into the civil tunnelling market with our new strategic partner Skarpa Pty Ltd.

In this short video, Deswik Technical Director Wayne Romer shows you how to create and adjust your pit design using expansion layers, bench ramps and switchbacks.

Dynamic block model Interpolation with Deswik.CAD is quick and easy. In this video, we show you how to update a block model from blast hole data.

The Scheduling Team continually works to improve the speed and performance of resource leveling. This quarter, we take a retrospective look at one of our clients’ schedule since it first arrived at Deswik in March 2012.

DESWIK announces a technology partnership with ARANZ Geo Limited, developers of Leapfrog 3D geological modeling software.

Deswik Chile will once again have a booth in the Austrade pavilion at EXPONOR in Antofagasta between the 11th and 15th May 2015.

The much anticipated Advanced Deswik.Sched module has also been published and has received positive feedback from numerous recipients.

Deswik.Suite V5.0 contains some exciting new pivot table reporting functionality (found using the Deswik.LHS Reporting command, and called Pivot Table).

A study has been completed producing a mining schedule in conjunction with a dumping schedule and haulage analysis.

Version 5.0 of the Deswik software suite is now available, featuring some exciting new functions and improvements.

Our software team has been busy this year continuously delivering improved solutions.

Deswik will be participating in the 2015 SME Annual Conference and Expo in Denver, Colorado from 15th to 18th of February 2015.

The UQEM plays an irreplaceable role in the Australian mining industry by bridging the gap between theory and practice at UQ. It is currently under review for closure.

We use this feature quite a bit here at Deswik. It still surprises me how many people don’t know about the DCF file format. VDCL is the original Deswik.CAD file format.

This case study outlines the process followed in the Deswik Software Suite to compare trucked material movements and an alternative strategy of semi-mobile in-pit crushing and conveying.

Deswik was awarded the Dermot McManus Award for Leadership and Innovation at the Premier of Queensland’s Export Awards on Thursday 16th October.

Deswik are pleased to announce the provision of Deswik Software for use by Mining Engineering students at UQ.

Deswik partners with RWE to launch the first generation of mine planning tools for CMM applications.

V4.0 brings enhancements across the entire toolset and represents the largest release from Deswik to date.

SOT+ case study kicks off at Vale – advancing mine plan optimization.