Six years after the acquisition of industry icon Shaft Sinkers and its design counterpart METS (Mining Engineering Technical Services), the UMS (United Mining Services) Group is ready to present a new, united face to the mining industry. 

The UMS Group divisions are now operating as UMS Shaft Sinkers, UMS METS, UMS Construction, UMS Botswana and UMS Nevada, UMS METS International in the UK, with UMS Brazil launching shortly, attesting to the company’s global reach. Operating under one umbrella, the UMS Group brings together high-level design, contracting and construction management skills for the full lifecycle of mining, hydro, roads and tunnelling projects.

“We have 60 years of solid history between our two main operating arms – UMS Shaft Sinkers and UMS METS,” says UMS Group CEO Digby Glover. “We want to recognise that history while at the same time evolve and move forward towards a new era of delivering innovative, turnkey solutions across the entire mining and associated infrastructure value chain. As with most service providers in this industry, the history was not without its challenges, but we have moved on from those setbacks. UMS is in a strong position to expand, with a new focus, new shareholders, new financials and new top-class management,” says Glover.

A household name in the mining industry, Shaft Sinkers boasts multiple shaft sinking records and pioneered many of the systems used in mining, this in tandem with METS. Glover says that while METS has been primarily an internal business, there is tremendous value in externalising the service and expanding it to offer a comprehensive offering from concept to project execution, including project management and engineering requirements.

“Our clients are recognising the value of having UMS involved right from the get-go. We have the high-level skills in UMS METS available to grow a project from concept study phase to execution, working alongside UMS Shaft Sinkers and the other UMS operating entities, so that the project is set up to perform, the contract is set up correctly and all long lead time equipment specified and procured. This way we get far better results than following a traditional process where a contractor gets one or two months to estimate a tender with no real in-depth understanding on what has been done during the feasibility and detailed design phases,” says Glover.

He adds that as part of UMS’s strategy to unify its brands and service offerings, it is focusing on growing the engineering skills in the company. The company has been actively recruiting top-class people to assemble a team that punches far above its weight in terms of skills, know-how and experience.

“We have a number of process plant projects that we are currently working on and have successfully completed, as well as general mining projects, underground construction projects, and infrastructure projects in the mining industry that don’t have shafts.

“We are well positioned to effectively deliver safe mines and related infrastructure from concept to construction ,” says Glover.