Sandvik Jumbos Selected for the A3 Hindhead Tunnel


12/03/2007

Balfour Beatty has appointed Sandvik Mining and Construction to supply the tunneling jumbos for the A3 Hindhead Tunnel Project currently being constructed for the Highways Agency.

The supply contract is for three Sandvik DT820-AC twin boom with basket boom drills to be used on the 1.83km tunnel which forms part of the new 6.7km dual carriageway trunk road. Two of the jumbos will be used for installing self-drilling GRP piles and probe holes, with the third unit used for drilling steel canopy support tubes.

This good news for Sandvik follows quickly on the success to supply of jumbos and surface drilling machines that are still in use on the Glendoe Hydro scheme in Scotland.

Background:

The A3 Hindhead Project is one of the schemes in the UK Government's Targeted Programme of Trunk Road Improvements. The project will complete the dual carriage way link between London and Portsmouth and remove a major source of congestion, particularly around the A3/A287 traffic signal controlled crossroads. Construction of the project commenced in January 2007, and tunnelling is planned to start in January 2008. The A3 Hindhead Project has been planned since 1983. The challenge was balancing environmental impact with user economic benefits. Almost all the scheme lies within an "Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty" and passes through land owned by the National Trust.

For further information, please contact:
Nina Lehtonen, Marketing Communications,
Sandvik Mining and Construction Oy
Tel. +358 205 44 121
Email: nina.lehtonen@sandvik.com

Sandvik is a global industrial group with advanced products and world-leading positions in selected areas - tools for metal cutting, machinery and tools for rock excavation, stainless materials, special alloys, metallic and ceramic resistance materials as well as process systems and sorting systems. The Group had at the end of 2006 about 42,000 employees and representation in 130 countries, with annual sales of more than SEK 72,000 M.

Sandvik Mining and Construction is a business area within the Sandvik Group and a leading global supplier of machinery, cemented-carbide tools, service and technical solutions for the excavation of rock and minerals in the mining and construction industries. Annual sales 2006 amounted to about SEK 25,000 M, with approximately 12,200 employees.

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