Modern Quarrying Q4 2020

AERIAL SURVEYS

Leica Geosystems’ WingtraOne deployed in a quarrying environment.

In times of financial difficulty, quarries can turn to technology to improve productivity. Accurate geospatial data is crucial to the effective management of quarry operations and unmanned aerial surveys provide a more affordable, quick and safe solution. In this feature, we take a look at this technology and the advantages it brings to the quarrying industry. By Mark Botha. GEOSPATIAL DATA FROM THE SKY: THE USE OF DRONES IN QUARRY SURVEYS

A t open-pit mines or quarries, a drone survey refers to the use of a drone or an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) equipped with a downward-facing RGB camera to capture images of a site from different vantage points, says Helgardt Junior van Heerden, UAV specialist at Leica Geosystems Southern Africa. From these images, photogrammetry software can recreate geo-referenced 3D maps, contour lines, digital terrain models or digital surface models of the mining site. Mining operators can also extract the precise volume of stockpiles or areas to be excavated and Van Heerden says some advanced mining software

programs can also generate industry-specific data such as safety berm heights; crests and toes; road boundaries; widths; crests and slope, length and elevation change. Henno Morkel, a UAV specialist at positioning solutions company Optron, says accurate geospatial data is crucial to managing quarry operations efficiently. He says the introduction of drones into quarry, mining and aggregate operations has set a new standard in safety while producing reliable, accurate geospatial data. “By using fixed-wing or multi-rotor drones (depending on the size of the quarry), a single, automated flight mission will capture aerial data rapidly and produce georeferenced imagery of the

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MODERN QUARRYING QUARTER 4 - 2020