Making Inroads: Reinventing a Safer Mining Wheel Earns Global Air Cylinder Wheels Key Industry Recognition as Company Builds Commercial Momentum

Winning the 2026 People's Choice Safety Innovation Award, opening a new Australian Operations Center of Excellence, and launching a $2.6 million Regulation CF campaign mark progress for GACW's Air Suspension Wheel

PHOENIX, Sept. 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- In its ongoing efforts to address longstanding tire-related risk, Global Air Cylinder Wheels® (GACW) (https://globalaircylinderwheels.com/), the innovator behind the patented Air Suspension Wheel® (ASW), continues to receive significant new recognition from the mining industry, recently winning the 2026 People's Choice Safety Innovation Award at the Queensland Mining Industry Health and Safety Conference in Australia.

The award represents the latest milestone for GACW as the company advances from years of engineering development and real-world testing toward commercial deployment. Since its last major operational update earlier this year, GACW has also opened its first operational Center of Excellence in Australia and launched a new Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF) campaign through StartEngine with the goal of raising up to $2.6 million (https://www.startengine.com/offering/gacw).

"This award gives us something extremely important at this stage of our development -- validation and recognition from the people who understand mining safety and the risks involved in these operations," said Harmen van Kamp, CEO and Co-Founder of Global Air Cylinder Wheels. "They are responsible for health and safety on mine sites, those who make and influence operating decisions, and who realize the problems we are trying to solve. To have the Air Suspension Wheel recognized by this audience is tremendously meaningful for our company and everyone who has worked to bring this technology to the industry."

The Queensland Mining Industry Health and Safety Conference is one of Australia's leading mining safety gatherings. The 2026 conference brought together more than 1,200 Senior Site Executive (SSE) certification holders, including mining operators, regulators, union leaders, site leadership, safety and health management, engineers, maintenance professionals, and equipment suppliers. GACW was one of five companies selected to present for the conference's Safety Innovation Award.

"Mining is an industry where safety is never an abstract issue," Van Kamp said. "The people at this conference live with these challenges every day. They understand what happens when equipment fails and why eliminating a hazard can be more powerful than simply finding another way to manage or mitigate it. It is another important step toward putting this technology into commercial operation."

The Australian recognition follows another major validation milestone announced by GACW in March, when the company reported successful extreme-condition testing of the ASW in the Iron Ore belt mining operations in the USA.

The company recently opened its first operational Center of Excellence in Australia. The Australian expansion places GACW closer to mining companies evaluating its technology and provides additional infrastructure as the company works through the extensive technical, operational, and procurement processes required before new equipment can be deployed across major mine sites.

The company has reported a global intellectual property portfolio encompassing more than 75 issued patents and more than 120 pending patent applications internationally, covering suspension, damping, tread, and mechanical wheel technologies.

GACW has raised more than $10.5 million through previous Regulation CF rounds and private investments as it has funded engineering, field testing, intellectual property development, and commercialization activities.

"Our goal remains to give the mining industry a safer, longer-lasting alternative to the conventional tire and help change how heavy equipment moves in some of the toughest operating environments in the world," Van Kamp added.

ABOUT GLOBAL AIR CYLINDER WHEELS

Global Air Cylinder Wheels® is an engineering company based in Phoenix, Arizona.

Media Contact:
George Pappas
Conservaco, The Ignite Agency
562 857-5680
[email protected] 
https://conservaco.com/

SOURCE Global Air Cylinder Wheels