Blog
Get insights from industry-leading experts.
Producing critical minerals and reshaping the mining industry at Hermosa
In the United States, the mining industry is addressing the growing need for critical minerals. South32 is developing a groundbreaking mine in Arizona, utilizing connected devices, remote operations, automation, and electric machinery. Jennifer Berger is proud of Normet's role as a key equipment and service provider for this pioneering project.
October 1, 2025 | Jennifer Berger
Data-led digital value creation in HS2
Normet offers several digital solutions for analysing and optimizing mining and tunnelling processes underground. These solutions have shown their effectiveness in the HS2 project in the UK, where sprayed concrete utilisation is a hot topic. Elena Solja, Head of Product at Remion, and Paul Challinor, Senior Construction Manager at STRABAG, discuss cooperation and concrete data.
February 2, 2025 | Elena Solja
Full acquisition of Lekatech presents electrifying possibilities
In early 2023, Normet declared a minority investment in Finnish startup company Lekatech. In August 2024, they announced their full ownership of the pioneering electric hammering technology company. Antti Anttila, CEO of Lekatech, explains what this means for their work.
November 18, 2024 | Antti Anttila
Driving scalability in a global business
The only constant is change. Normet is embracing it with Smart365 – a major business change programme with a large IT dimension, aimed at meeting the needs of our growing, global business. Global, scalable IT solutions are the answer, says Juha Tuominen, CIO.
October 22, 2024 | Juha Tuominen
Advancing sustainability through IT
Understanding and implementing sustainability projects within an IT framework involves the physical and the virtual worlds, writes Tomi Kallio, Chief Information Security Officer at Normet.
May 26, 2024 | Tomi Kallio
Improving underground safety with automated solutions
At the core of Normet’s design philosophy are safety and productivity. Embracing automation technologies goes hand-in-hand with these principles now and in the future, says Aleksi Lukinmaa, Automation Engineer at Normet.
April 29, 2024 | Aleksi Lukinmaa
Count her in: Invest in women and accelerate progress
We wanted to reflect on the gains women have made toward gender equality, and the hurdles we are still facing today. Gender equality empowers women with the ability to make choices, enhancing their careers and overall wellbeing.
March 7, 2024
Bringing BEV machines to underground mines around the world
The world has changed a lot over the last decade, nowhere more so than in the field of battery electric vehicles, says Timo Oikarinen, Technology Implementation Manager at Normet. Today’s technology makes commissioning and operating BEVs more attractive than ever.
February 20, 2024 | Timo Oikarinen
Ground support - the foundation of any project
Establishing firm foundations for an underground project is vital in terms of both safety and productivity. Normet’s ground support portfolio covers every related customer need, Martin Petranek, Director of Ground Support, says.
October 31, 2023 | Martin Petranek
Boom time for high-tech breaking
Xrock® Automation is a cutting-edge breaker boom automation system from Normet that is evidence of the continuing shift towards automation in the mining industry, says Santeri Lampinen, Research Engineer at Normet.
October 15, 2023 | Santeri Lampinen
The future of underground charging
Safety is a number one priority when working underground. In charging operations when explosives are involved, there is really no room for error, which is why Normet are constantly developing their offering, explains Anssi Mykkänen, Charging Product Line Director.
September 20, 2023 | Anssi Mykkänen
Battery technology – the road ahead
Interview with Mika Kinnunen (Product Manager, Electrification)
August 1, 2023
Battery vehicles in underground operations
The adoption of battery electric vehicles underground and electrification, in general, is gaining pace, thanks to clear benefits including cleaner operations and high-cost savings over a project lifetime, writes Samu Kukkonen, Technology Director at Normet.
July 10, 2023
The future of hammering is electric
Pushing the electrification agenda in mining processes makes sense from a financial and operational perspective. Normet recently invested in Lekatech, a Finnish start-up company founded in 2018 to introduce electric hammer technology to the market. The investment brings many benefits to both companies, explain Antti Anttila, Lekatech CEO, and Samu Kukkonen, Technology Director, Normet.
May 30, 2023
Information is power and data is key
Normet’s Harri Sonninen, Global Manager for Service Products, and Panu Oikkonen, Director of Underground Process Excellence discuss the development of VR technology and digitalisation in the mining and tunnelling industry.
May 1, 2023
Sustainable energy storage for the future – underground
The Hagerbach Test Facility (VSH) in Switzerland is home to the SubSpace Energy Hub. The Hub will transform VSH into a sustainable, CO2 neutral facility to develop underground space usage. Normet has been heavily involved in the project from the beginning, says Ross Dimmock, Vice President Tunnelling, in this interview.
April 2, 2023 | Ross Dimock
Developing the underground of the future
A small town in central Finland with less than 5,000 inhabitants seems an unlikely place for a world-class underground research facility and advanced business ecosystem, but the Callio FutureMINE project is nonetheless at the cutting edge of mining and tunnelling R&D.
February 16, 2023
Concrete’s carbon footprint still weighs heavy – what impact can sprayed concrete processes have?
The topic of sustainability has long since moved sharply into focus for industries and societies around the world. Faced with the looming climate crisis, awareness of sustainable development has come to the fore and made its way into the underground construction industry. ‘Reduced Carbon’ is the new currency in sprayed concrete.
February 5, 2023 | Ritchard Hood
Sharing a winning philosophy
We are the Finnish Nacra 17 sailing team. For those new to the world of sailing, the Nacra 17 is a double-handed catamaran and used in one of the ten Olympic sailing disciplines. What makes the Nacra 17 rather exciting is threefold:
January 26, 2023 | Sinem Kurtbay & Akseli Keskinen
Improve your business by collecting relevant data
During my studies at the Helsinki University of Technology I took a course on ”The Balanced Scorecard,” which is based on the strategic management tool that links a company’s current actions with its long-term goals. I still remember one famous phrase from that course: “What you measure is what you get” by Robert Kaplan and David Norton, who are the authors of the Balanced Scorecard concept. One of their philosophy’s basic ideas is that you need to collect and measure data about your business performance in order to improve it. Even though the idea of collecting and measuring data is not new, the concept of getting data to improve your business is more relevant than ever as technical capabilities advance.
August 28, 2022 | Eric Stigzelius
How relevant is digitalisation to the underground mining and tunnelling industry
In an honest and engineer-type way, the answer to this question is: While I can’t quantify to what exact percentage point of relevance, I can say that digitalisation is very relevant, now and even more so in the future.
July 12, 2022 | Pekka Jaarinen
Our expertise is underground
The people who follow Normet may have noticed that we pride ourselves on being experts in our customers' underground production processes. Communicating this to our audience aims to let people know that we know the processes that we develop solutions for, but what does it mean for us?
June 28, 2022 | Panu Oikkonen
Creating my own path towards something unknown
From Olympic sailing to kite foil racing at Paris 2024 Olympics
May 30, 2022 | Noora Ruskola
Steps towards creating zero-carbon tunnels
Despite a daunting timeline set by the Paris Accord, zero-carbon tunnels are within reach if the right solutions are implemented.
May 4, 2022 | Ross Dimock