MINING DRONES
At the Werra mine site , the Exyn team with the help of the ExynPak , was able to capture a colourised cloud where the stratification of the rock could be clearly seen in the scan , enabling the K + S team to obtain data it would most likely never be able to replicate in any other way , according to the company
Mapping out mining ’ s future
Dan Gleeson speaks to two of the leading drone-based solution companies to find out about the latest advances in the space and their ultimate mine automation ambitions
If the mining sector is to move to fullyautonomous operations across the board , drones – whether that be of the aerial or ground-based variety – will be a necessary part of everyday life .
On surface , they will carry out routine inspections of critical infrastructure to ensure safe and productive operations continue – this could be on tailings dams , material stockpiles , highwalls , etc .
Underground , they will likely monitor gas levels after blasts , carry out geotechnical inspections to ensure safe operations , and act as the eyes and ears of fully-autonomous loading and hauling operations , able to carry out in-situ surveying or mapping of autonomous mining areas without production stopping .
Those companies manufacturing drones for mining , building the payloads to place on the robots , or writing the software that processes the drone-based data are all too aware of the role their solutions could play in this ‘ mine of the future ’.
It is now about turning that potential into reality .
Autonomy ambitions
Having already achieved the highest documented level of aerial autonomy – level 4A – with its drone-based solutions , Exyn Technologies is striving for further industry firsts , Raffi Jabrayan , VP of Business Development and Commercial sales , says .
One of its more recent breakthroughs came in Germany at the K + S ’ Werra mine site , where a team demonstrated the use of the ExynAero™ and ExynPak™ at an underground salt mine .
Over the course of three days underground , Exyn ’ s field engineers successfully flew multiple autonomous missions in hard-to-reach areas while capturing rich , high-fidelity point clouds in a fraction of the time it would take traditional cavity monitoring systems , according to the company .
Jabrayan explained : “ Several drone companies had previously attempted an autonomous mission to scan the immense cavities this specific site has , but the dust interference meant most of these missions ended within seconds .
“ We were able to fly in some cavities completely beyond visual line of sight , mapping areas in a fraction of the time the teams would normally take for such manual inspections . In all , we were able to carry out a six-minute autonomous flight at the site .”
While the company did not carry out any specific modifications to its ExynAero platform to conduct such a flight , Jabrayan acknowledged that ongoing design and software improvements over the last year had enabled the company to accurately detect both dust and thin wires underground .
In addition to this , the company also displayed the capabilities of its handheld ExynPak solutions while on site in Germany .
The ExynPak , according to Exyn , can provide the world ’ s first real-time colourised point cloud visualisation on a handheld LIDAR scanner , capturing precise , colourised 3D models 20-30 times faster than a traditional stationery tripod or terrestrial scanner .
Powered by ExynAI™ , the ExynPak ‘ drapes ’ real-time RGB information captured through two hemispherical fixed cameras onto point clouds created by a gimballed Velodyne LIDAR Puck LITE , providing operators a complete colourised 360 ° view of their environment , Exyn says .
At the Werra mine site , the Exyn team was able to capture a colourised cloud where the stratification of the rock could be clearly seen in the scan , enabling the K + S team to obtain data it would most likely never be able to replicate in any other way , according to the company .
Jabrayan says such information could see operators plan their mining processes around the colourised captures , following mineralisation identified by the scans to ensure no economic ore had been missed after mucking out .
The ExynPak is likely to become a core part of Exyn ’ s next aerial autonomy offering for open-pit mining , powered by ExynAI , which enables safe flight in the most dangerous industrial environments .
“ We have done some work in terms of moving our flights to the surface ,” Jabrayan said . “ It could cover various aspects – tailings monitoring , highwall scans … there are lots of requirements for it . We are actively working on integrating GPS into our ExynAI stack for outdoor autonomous flights , however , it ' s not ready to be pushed to customers just yet .”
The company is currently working on surveys of ground-based resources , such as stockpiles , using a handheld ExynPak , plus carrying out aerial flights in manual mode .
Reaching the level of autonomy it has underground will most likely involve the help of its collaboration partner , EY , and a third company providing “ software and visualisation input ”, Jabrayan says , adding that he expects to see this autonomous solution come to light in 2023 .
Earlier this year , Exyn , in partnership with Maestro Digital Mine , presented an aerial drone fitted with a Maestro gas monitoring Industrial Internet of Things ( IIoT ) device .
This new gas monitoring drone , which integrates critical gas sensors onto the ExynAero and ExynPak platforms , is effectively the “ quickest and safest mobile gas monitor on the planet ”, Michael Gribbons , CEO and Co-founder for Maestro , said .
34 International Mining | OCTOBER 2022