SPECIAL FOCUS: DRONES
EQUIPMENT AND DATA ACQUISITION Since September 2016 Kaz Minerals has surveyed its mining sites and expansion areas on a daily basis with the two Q-200 Surveyors. Each UAV carries a Sony A6000 camera with a 16mm wide-angle lens providing image data down to 2.9cm GSD at 400ft. Te images are the basis for 3D models, topographic site maps, infrastructure maps, pit volume estimations as well as maps for security and surveillance. Geospatial accuracy (cm-level) is achieved by combining image data with a combination of permanent and temporal ground control points (GCPs) distributed over the mining site. Generally, the Q-200 Surveyor has been designed to complete high-quality aerial surveys in the quickest way possible in any environments ranging from desert and tropic to glacial and Arctic/Antarctic. Te automatic camera trigger and the gimballed camera system allow the UAV to take pin-sharp pictures even at high wind speeds of up to 55km/h. Te UAV is launched with a bungee launch line and is either landed via parachute or belly landing. Te latest version comes with a post-processing- kinematic (PPK) option, which provides high mapping accuracies down to 3cm without the need of physical ground control points.
APPLICATIONS Daily flight missions have become an essential part of the Kaz Minerals site
The launch of the QuestUAV 200 Surveyor in Kazakhstan
The Q-200 Surveyor is field-proven for mining applications
planning and mine development. Te work of the flight team forms the basis for all further work in developing the mineral resources – distributing information to engineers, planners and geologists. Aerial measurements are used to
develop and display the plans, maps and profiles required for mining and exploration. Tree of the major applications are explained in the following sections.
MINE STATUS
Te basic application of the survey results is to provide a general overview of the status of the mine. Orthomosaic, digital surface model (DSM) and 3D point clouds are used to keep the Kaz Minerals management up-to-date about recent developments in the open-pit and the leach pad. Te figure on the right shows sections of the orthomosaic, illustrating the level of detail gained from the UAV data.
SITE DEVELOPEMENT Orthomosaic and DSM are the basis for an in-depth topographic analysis of the development of the mining site. Valuable information can be extracted from orthomosaic and DSM, such as infrastructure maps (roads, buildings), water bodies, contour lines, the flow of water, risk maps, etc. Tese datasets, in combination with expert knowledge of mining personnel, are used for the development of intelligent management plans for the development of the mine.
VOLUME ESTIMATIONS UAV-based measurements are the fastest and easiest way to measure stockpile volumes. Photogrammetric software, such as Pix4Dmapper or Agisoft Photoscan allows users to automatically calculate
10
www.engineerlive.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
