Hexagon’s Mining division and Montana Technological University announced on 15 December 2025 a strategic partnership in Butte, Montana, that gives the Swedish technology firm round-the-clock access to the university’s Underground Mine Education Center. The arrangement lets Hexagon test and refine next-generation collision-avoidance and operator-safety systems in a realistic subterranean environment. The agreement seeks to speed development timelines, bolster student training, and deepen collaboration between industry and academia as mining companies push ever deeper and face mounting safety risks.
The arrangement positions Montana Tech’s full-scale underground laboratory as Hexagon’s primary proving ground for sensors, algorithms and operator-machine interfaces designed to reduce accidents in confined, low-visibility stopes and drifts. It joins a growing list of public-private alliances aimed at turning research breakthroughs into deployable products before injuries occur.
Montana Tech’s Underground Mine Education Center (UMEC) sits beneath the university’s 108-year-old campus, offering more than 18,000 square feet of training drifts, production headings and service bays that replicate commercial mining conditions. Under the multiyear agreement, Hexagon engineers can install prototypes, run stress tests, and gather performance data while students observe or participate, giving the next generation of mining professionals hands-on exposure to cutting-edge technology. Hexagon executives framed the partnership as representing “a pivotal opportunity to drive life-saving technological innovations” as operations extend deeper underground and hazards grow accordingly.
Dave Goddard, president of Hexagon’s Mining division, described the challenge plainly: “As mining operations extend increasingly deeper underground, the potential risks to human personnel and industrial equipment continue to escalate.” By marrying Hexagon’s sensor-fusion expertise with UMEC’s realistic tunnels, the company hopes to validate a collision-avoidance platform that alerts haul-truck operators and jumbo-drill crews to obstacles they cannot see and, ultimately, intervenes autonomously when necessary.
The collaboration accelerates product development through full-scale underground simulation while supporting student education and industry-academic cooperation. Engineers can replicate diesel exhaust, variable lighting, rock-dust buildup and complex traffic patterns—conditions nearly impossible to duplicate in a surface lab—then feed real-world data into machine-learning models. Hexagon will also use the site for customer demonstrations, enabling mine operators to watch technology trials before committing capital budgets.
What the partners will test
- Advanced technological simulation: high-fidelity digital twins of UMEC tunnels coupled with live sensor streams.
- Product validation and refinement: iterative testing of radar-, lidar- and camera-based proximity detection systems.
- Comprehensive training programs: joint curricula that allow students to shadow Hexagon technicians and gather research data.
- Customer demonstration initiatives: staged scenarios that show how automated interventions prevent collisions between vehicles, personnel and infrastructure.
The collaboration builds on Hexagon’s existing suite of underground solutions, which includes fatigue monitoring, integrated safety platforms and real-time situational-awareness dashboards. But collision avoidance remains the “holy grail” for many operators because moving equipment accounts for a significant share of underground injuries worldwide. By tackling the problem in a controlled yet authentic setting, Hexagon aims to shorten the distance between prototype and production.
For Montana Tech, the deal injects new projects, equipment and potential research funding into a program long known for hands-on instruction. “Our students will graduate having worked directly with technology that is shaping the industry’s future,” faculty advisers said during a campus briefing. The university will retain access to data sets collected during trials, opening avenues for independent research on human-machine interaction, sensor reliability and operational psychology.
Industry analysts note that partnerships of this kind are becoming indispensable as mines chase lower-grade ore bodies at greater depth. Shafts can now plunge more than 3 kilometres below surface, where temperatures exceed 50 °C and ventilation costs soar. Visibility drops, radio signals scatter and evacuation takes longer—all factors that heighten the value of automated safety nets. By situating R&D in a teaching mine, Hexagon sidesteps the logistical hurdles of live production sites while still confronting the physics of constrained headings, diesel particulates and unpredictable rock conditions.
The agreement also addresses a chronic talent gap. Mining companies worldwide report difficulty recruiting automation specialists willing to work weeks at a time in remote camps. Embedding students early in the development cycle exposes them to the technology they will eventually operate, creating a pipeline of graduates comfortable with autonomous fleets and sensor-driven decision-making.
How the program works
Hexagon hardware—ruggedized lidar pods, inertial measurement units, wearable tags and onboard computers—will be mounted on loaders, trucks and personnel carriers donated to UMEC by industry partners. Optical beacons embedded in the ribs and backs of the drifts will generate millimetre-level position data. Proprietary software then fuses those inputs, predictively modeling trajectories and issuing graduated alerts: audible tones to the operator, haptic feedback in seat cushions, or automated braking if a collision is imminent. Data are logged for post-incident review, and algorithms are refined nightly in the cloud.
Field-ready advantages
- Real-world geometry: Unlike a mock-up on a test track, UMEC features angled crosscuts, variable heading widths and ramp inclines, mimicking complex orebody development.
- Human factors: Student “test subjects” simulate erratic pedestrian behaviour, allowing engineers to calibrate alerts that are urgent yet not fatiguing.
- Scalability: Successful modules can be ported to surface haulage or marine applications, broadening Hexagon’s value proposition.
Goddard said the company will measure success by “the rate at which validated safety features move from UMEC into customer fleets.” Early milestones include reducing near-miss events by 80 percent in controlled trials and proving interoperability across mixed OEM equipment—key for mines operating legacy fleets alongside new autonomous units.
Looking ahead
The partnership signals a broader shift from reactive to proactive safety cultures in resource extraction. Regulators in Canada, Australia and the United States are tightening reporting requirements for near-miss incidents, and insurers increasingly discount premiums for sites deploying collision-avoidance technology. By investing in R&D that anticipates future compliance regimes, Hexagon positions itself as both a technology vendor and a strategic adviser.
Yet challenges loom. Commercial mines are far noisier—electrically and acoustically—than an academic site, and introducing autonomous overrides raises liability questions. Successful pilot projects at UMEC must therefore translate into robust change-management plans and operator retraining when rolled out commercially. Supply-chain resilience remains another concern; the sensors and computing hardware required for centimetre-accuracy positioning rely on microchips still vulnerable to geopolitical constraints.
Even so, analysts suggest that the Hexagon-Montana Tech model could become a template for sectors beyond mining. Tunnelling projects in civil engineering, military logistics in subterranean environments and even planetary-exploration robotics all share the fundamental challenge of limited sightlines and unpredictable interactions between humans and machines. Real-world simulation facilities linked to academic research might accelerate innovation across those disciplines as well.
For now, the partners are focused on the practical work of wiring UMEC for data. Installation crews are running fibre and power, and the first round of prototype vehicles is expected to enter the drifts early in 2026. If Hexagon meets its performance targets, full commercial deployment could follow within 18 months, shaving years off traditional development timetables.
By integrating a century-old teaching mine with 21st-century automation, the collaboration embodies mining’s continual balancing act: extracting value from the earth while safeguarding the people and machines who make it possible.
Sources
- https://news.europawire.eu/hexagon-partners-with-montana-tech-to-accelerate-underground-safety-technology-development/eu-press-release/2025/12/15/16/32/40/166820/
