Autonomous Drill Pattern Staking

3D MAPPERS INTERNATIONAL in conjunction with CIVDRONE are pleased to offer the world's first and only

Autonomous Drill Pattern Staking Service to mine operators.

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By harnessing drone technologies, the entire process of drill/blast pattern surveying and post blast surveys for determining ground swell can be automated to increase accuracy, efficiency and safety.     

The process begins with a topographic mapping mission to acquire aerial imagery of the bench.

The several hundred individual aerial images are combined to create an orthomosaic, which depicts the entire site as one image. Additionally, a Digital Surface Model (DSM) is created by extracting the elevation data from the imagery. The orthomosaic is then combined with the DSM to generate 3D surface.

The 3D surface is then transmitted to the Blast Engineer to design the drill/blast pattern.

Once the Blast Engineer creates the drill hole coordinate file, it is uploaded directly to CIVDRONE. This insures that the drill hole pattern is laid out exactly per plan without any additional human intervention and possible transcription errors.

CIVDRONE will then autonomously execute the flight mission by staking the drill hole locations with centimeter level accuracy. CIVDRONE can stake up to 500 points per day without exposing surveyors to harsh environmental conditions or safety hazards of working in the pit. Once the holes are drilled and the blasting operations are completed, a second aerial mapping mission is flown to obtain imagery that will be used to quantify the amount of ground swell and

fragmentation achieved. This post-blast mission can be commenced as soon as the dust settles and can be complete within one hour of detonation. The post-blast surface will be processed and digitally overlaid on the original topographic surface so the Blast Engineer can precisely measure the effectiveness of the latest blast design.

The wealth of information gathered during these flights will memorialize each drill pattern design, so each successive blast can be fine tuned to achieve optimal fragmentation. Ultimately, this will lead to higher efficiency at the mill and lower operating costs.

    

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