IM 2019 August 19 | Page 63

SLOPE STABILITY MONITORING hundreds of examples where the MSR successfully provided early warning and detection of slope movements, resulting in prevention of loss of life or injuries. To assist with the distribution of MSR information, Reutech has developed its Multi-Purpose Platform (MPP) that can be configured as a WiFi repeater station to facilitate the transmission of slope stability data to the geotechnical office, or that can operate as an in-pit alarm system containing sirens, strobe lights or a pager system to warn employees working close to a potentially dangerous slope. Based on user demands, Reutech Mining developed the Slope Vision system. This georeferenced camera system allows the user remotely to steer the camera system to view specific coordinates and to capture still images or create video recordings. The Slope Vision system can be utilised by a variety of resources on the mine’s network to monitor operations. Once the MSR detects movement on the slope, the Slope Vision system can be commanded to explore the area of movement without compromising the radar scanning. This provides real-time visual inspection of dangerous slopes. Safety - First, Last and Always. Innovation and efficiency from IDS GeoRadar Critical and strategic slope monitoring is today an integral part of geotechnical engineering practice for where safe operations and mine design is concerned. IDS GeoRadar (part of Hexagon Mining), says it “works relentlessly to bring innovative and efficient technology to the mix. The goal of the technology being developed today is to manage and improve safety of operations by pinning down the areas that require intervention reducing unnecessary risks and costs and to provide a solution for every monitoring need, from safety critical to long-term.” Top of the range radars available today rapidly measure movement with sub-millimetre accuracy over large areas. Its Synthetic Aperture Radar, IBIS ArcSAR can cover a 360° scan from up to 5 km in 40 seconds, “offering unprecedent performance and flexibility. The existing solutions are in constant evolution, making sure they are robust, user friendly and adapt for use in a rough environment.” For high accuracy and excellent spatial resolutions, the Hydra-X comes with a line of sight displacement accuracy of 0.1 mm and refreshed information on slope movements in less than a minute, scan-to-scan. “This compact and lightweight instrument with a quick set-up is perfect for monitoring at closer range, picking up the smallest rock movement making it your go-to instrument for monitoring necessities during daily operations such as presplit drilling and other activities close to the pit floor.” The quality of data the company says is further secured by the IDS Guardian software, which offers a state-of-the-art Automatic Atmospheric Correction algorithm and can stitch together data sets from multiple IBIS radar systems to provide movement vectors of radar data in a single radar map (FPM360 TrueVector). The interpretation of radar data is made simple through visualisation of fully georeferenced 3D data. Striving to simplify and streamline data processing, IDS GeoRadar and Leica Geosystems, both part of Hexagon, have come together to provide a full spectrum of major monitoring instruments (radars & geodetic sensors) from one source and have developed an integrated software solution, the HxGN GeoMonitoring Hub. The interpretation of data provided by the multiplicity of monitoring sensors has then the purpose of picking up movements that can be interpreted as precursors of a structural failure. “The critical monitoring of rockfalls remains a major issue in most mine sites and is one of the main causes of accidents in the field. When looking at a rockfall event, serious challenges are posed to modern interferometric slope monitoring radars due to the sudden and rapid nature of the phenomena.” Last May 30 IDS GeoRadar also announced RockSpot, an innovative radar system able to locate, track and alert on rockfalls in real time. “This small yet powerful radar makes a perfect complement to interferometric radars by Providing full service mining solutions and innovation around the world for over 55 years. EXPERIENCE • • • • Shaft Sinking Mine Development Contract Mining Raiseboring • • • • Raise Mining Underground Construction Engineering & Technical Services Specialty Services AFRICA | ASIA | AUSTRALIA EUROPE | NORTH AMERICA SOUTH AMERICA Mining Contractors and Engineers Consider it done – safely. redpathmining.com AUGUST 2019 | International Mining 59