MINING DRONES
RIEGL ' s high-performance turnkey solution for professional UAS-based surveying .
RIEGL ’ s solutions for UAVs utilise the company ’ s proprietary Waveform-LiDAR technology , which is also used in RIEGL ’ s long-range terrestrial 3D laser scanners that have measurement ranges up to 6,000 m .
Seismic surveys
LKAB has recently used drones equipped with scanners from Sweden-based AMKVO AB to survey much of the area affected by seismic activity at its Kiruna iron ore mine , in Sweden .
On May 18 , a major tremor measuring 3.3 magnitude caused extensive and widespread damage to the mine . Since then , the company has been trying to secure the mine with rock technicians surveying the workings via drone imagery .
Per Brännman , Section Manager for Sublevel Caving at LKAB in Kiruna , said the use of drones and scanners for surveying was a safe and efficient way to carry out this work , explaining : “ no one carrying out inspection work will be exposed to any kind of risk .”
Principally , the inspection involves surveying the damage to obtain reliable data for decision making with respect to , for example , rock reinforcement , LKAB says .
Just over a week after being deployed , much of the mine , from the Y15 to Y31 blocks , had been scanned by the drones and scanners , according to
LKAB . The inspection area covered about 1.5 km and included several levels and production blocks . Sweden-based AMKVO , which specialises in geodata and remote sensing , provided the drones and Emesent Hovermap payload to look at equipment and rock bursts that occurred following the tremor .
These drones and scanners can be readily deployed in barely 15 minutes , with the technology very precise , functioning well without detailed instruction from pilots , according to LKAB . Material from the drone flights has already been analysed , with the completed analysis of the event providing the basis for a report to the Swedish Work Environment Authority .
Drones for exploration
Windfall Geotek launched a new drone-based solution for artificial intelligence ( AI ) driven digital exploration earlier this year .
A services company with a portfolio of gold , copper and zinc properties in Quebec , Canada , Windfall Geotek has been using AI and advanced knowledge-extraction techniques since 2005 , with the EagleEye™ drone solution leveraging this experience .
Michel Fontaine , President and CEO of Windfall Geotek , said : “ Our new services have allowed us to bring to market survey , sensor , and AI-driven software for digital exploration . Our ability in the mining sector to find targets is directly tied to the
quality of the source data we receive from our customers .
“ EagleEye will allow us to work more closely with our customers , generating a better return for their investors with our CARDS™ AI-generated targets .”
Windfall ’ s CARDS ( Computer Aided Resources Detection System ) solution consumes open data from around the world to identify a high statistical probability of target identification within known areas of interest , according to the company .
The company planned to partner with operators of leading surveying companies to obtain geophysical data and generate potential drill targets using drones , modified sensors , and the CARDS AI software system , it said .
One such partnership is with Draganfly , an award-winning , industry-leading manufacturer within the commercial UAV and unmanned vehicle system space , which , back in May , signed a preferred services agreement with Windfall Geotek .
Windfall Geotek said this announcement represented the next milestone toward the execution of its EagleEye drone-based solution .
Fontaine added : “ Windfall Geotek ’ s data has historically been provided by helicopter or fixedwing planes . The advancement of drone technology with the capacity to deliver high resolution mag geophysical survey is a game changer . With this partnership with Draganfly , we are now in a position to offer a turnkey solution for digital exploration at an affordable cost for our clients .”
IM
ersatile Professionals
H ermann Paus Maschinenfabrik GmbH Tel .: + 49 ( 0 ) 5903 707-0 E-Mail : info @ paus . de www . paus . de
The basic platform of the MinCa 18 by Paus convinces with payloads from 1.5
�� ����� ���� ��� � �������� ���������������� ���� ��� �������� ��� ���� ��� ���������� ��� �
�������� ������������ ��� ���� �������� ������������ ������� ����� ����� �������� �������� �
��� ������� ������������ ������� ���� ���� ������ ��� ������
OCTOBER 2020 | International Mining 25