SLOPE STABILITY
Multi layered monitoring
Mines and increasingly quarries rely on today’ s state of the art slope stability radars to ensure operational safety. Hexagon company IDS GeoRadar recently introduced the ArcSAR Neo – the first fully 3D ground-based synthetic aperture radar( SAR) in the mining industry, via which it says it has reset the standard for data clarity and giving mining operations the ultimate confidence to make critical, life-saving decisions. This was the culmination of its pioneering introduction of SAR technology to the mining sector back in 2009, delivering, according to IDS, better resolution and more robust data, even from long distances. This has allowed IDS GeoRadar to become a market leader – and other players have followed with their own SAR offerings. Paul Moore spoke to Lorenzo Leoni, Director Mining Business for Radar & Monitoring Division at Hexagon Infrastructure & Geospatial.
Q What are mining customers looking for in today’ s slope stability market- a more unified package across different sensors that they can apply to multiple mines and TSFs? Greater provision of value-added services from experts like IDS to reduce responsibility on their own geotech teams? Ensuring compliance with regulators and authorities?
Mining companies are under massive pressure – they face an unprecedented demand for specialised geotechnical expertise, tighter global regulatory compliance like GISTM, and an absolute need to scale their safety monitoring seamlessly across multiple pits and tailings storage facilities. When we looked at these three market demands, we realised that incremental improvements to old technology wouldn’ t cut it. That is why this year we launched the ArcSAR Neo, which is the centrepiece of how we address every single one of those customer needs.
Mining groups want standardisation; they don’ t want a different, siloed tool for every mine size. We engineered the ArcSAR Neo as the first ground-based SAR to offer true 3D spatial resolution at the source, providing unmatched data clarity up to a massive 6-kilometre range. Crucially, to match the market’ s demand for a unified yet flexible package, we designed the Neo with three software-configurable levels: Tactical, Advance, and Performance. A mining company can deploy the exact same hardware across their entire global portfolio- using it for targeted monitoring at a TSF embankment today, and scaling its performance up to the largest open pit tomorrow via a simple software license change.
The industry skills gap is real. Geotechnical teams are stretched thin and cannot afford to waste hours sorting through false alarms or noisy data. By capturing true 3D data directly at the source, the ArcSAR Neo inherently filters out physical noise- like multipath reflections or heavy haul trucks moving in the pit- before the data even hits the software.
Furthermore, the Neo features an integrated 360-degree HDR camera that perfectly synchronises visual context with the radar data. When combined with our global 24 / 7 remote monitoring services, we take the heavy lifting of continuous data analysis off the site engineers’ shoulders. They don’ t have to interpret raw waves; the system gives them immediate, clear insights.
In fact, looking toward the future of value-added software, we are already preparing the next massive leap forward to address this need for cross-sensor unity. While our current flagship platform, Guardian, continues to anchor safety-critical operations worldwide, we are rolling out our next-generation software platform, GeoMonitoring.
Crucially, it is built from the ground up to be a true multitechnology hub, with the vision to seamlessly integrate data not just from our radars, but from wide-ranging sensors across the geotechnical spectrum and provide a complete, unified overview of risk. Furthermore, it is designed to meet the most stringent modern cybersecurity standards, and will offer both full-featured desktop capabilities and a highly agile web version- giving corporate and site teams secure, seamless access to critical data from anywhere in the world.
Finally, ensuring bulletproof regulatory compliance requires data transparency and defensibility. Because the ArcSAR Neo covers both fast-moving, bench-scale failures and long-term, millimeterscale deformations without blind spots, it gives the Engineer of Record a flawless, continuous audit trail. It turns compliance from a box-checking exercise into an ironclad insurance policy for the mine’ s license to operate. Ultimately, today’ s market wants data confidence, operational flexibility, and expert support. The ArcSAR Neo delivers all three in a single package.
ArcSAR Neo operating at Ravenswood Gold in Australia
Q What role does software processing play in ensuring data is interpreted correctly including removing any noise or false positives?
A radar is only as good as the software that is processing and interpreting its signal. In mining, false positives lead to‘ alarm fatigue’- if a system alarms every time a rainstorm rolls in or dust blows across the pit, operators stop trusting the alerts. If they stop trusting the alerts, people get hurt. Software processing is the engine that prevents this by turning raw radar data into clean, actionable intelligence. The biggest source of‘ noise’ for ground-based
44 International Mining | AUGUST 2026