Sandvik has announced the launch of xCell® Banshee and xCell Hydra, two new digital ground support solutions designed to provide unprecedented insight into rock bolt performance and ground behavior.

Introduced at the ACG Caving Conference 2026 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, the solutions, Sandvik says, strengthen the company’s growing portfolio of digital ground support technologies and support mining operations in improving safety, productivity and decision making.

As mining operations continue to move deeper underground and geotechnical conditions become increasingly complex, access to reliable ground support data is critical. xCell Banshee and xCell Hydra are integrated into Sandvik’s Digital Ground Support Platform, enabling mine operators to collect, analyse and act on real-time information about ground conditions, rock bolt status and asset integrity, according to the company.

“Digitalisation is transforming the way mines manage ground support,” Osvaldo Vallati, Product Manager Digital Products, Ground Support at Sandvik, said. “With xCell Banshee and xCell Hydra, customers gain access to valuable data that enables proactive decision making, improved workforce utilisation and a deeper understanding of underground conditions. These solutions help make mining operations safer while optimising the performance and lifecycle of ground support systems.”

xCell Banshee (photo below) provides digital monitoring of consumed capacity for Sandvik MD and MDX Bolts. By enabling in-service testing and condition assessment of installed bolts, the solution delivers valuable insights into bolt performance and ground support effectiveness throughout the life of an excavation, the company claims.

The solution is designed around a measurable version of the MD and MDX Bolt, featuring a unique identification system that, the company says, ensures secure allocation of measurement results within the Digital Ground Support Platform. Importantly, the measurable design requires no changes to the standard bolt installation process and is planned to become the standard production version of MD and MDX Bolts over time, without additional hardware costs.

Sandvik said: “By providing visibility into consumed bolt capacity and long-term ground behaviour, xCell Banshee enables more informed rehabilitation planning, optimised support designs and enhanced mine-wide integrity monitoring. Geotechnical teams can spend less time collecting data and more time interpreting it, helping to improve operational efficiency while reducing rehabilitation costs.”

xCell Hydra extends digital monitoring capabilities even further through continuous measurement of consumed capacity in embedded rock bolts. The solution combines instrumented bolts with an intelligent battery-powered data logger, enabling reliable real-time data collection and wireless transmission of critical ground support information, according to Sandvik.

Multiple configurable measurement points along the bolt provide a detailed deformation profile and visibility into bolt performance over time. The system supports connecting up to nine bolts to one data logger and uses the same installation process as a standard bolt, simplifying deployment in underground environments.

Together with xCell Professor® drive-by data collection technology, xCell Hydra enables efficient collection of monitoring data at speeds of up to 30 km/h, allowing mines to obtain continuous insights while minimising operational disruption, the company explains. The resulting data supports ground support optimisation, validation of installation tensioning, improved understanding of seismic and ground movement behaviour and more effective rehabilitation planning.

Both xCell Banshee and xCell Hydra are fully integrated into Sandvik’s Digital Ground Support Platform, a cloud-based environment that consolidates essential data, analytics and documentation from multiple digital ground support solutions into a single system. The platform provides customers with a comprehensive view of ground support performance, supporting data-driven decisions that improve safety, increase operational efficiency and contribute to more sustainable mining operations, Sandvik claims.

The company concluded: “The launches of xCell Banshee and xCell Hydra represent an important step in Sandvik’s strategy to digitalise ground support and enhance underground mining safety. By transforming rock bolts into intelligent sources of geotechnical information, these solutions help mining companies move from reactive ground support management to predictive, data-driven decision making.”

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