Rapid Low Cost Mine Mapping
Project Leader: George Poropat (CSIRO Exploration and Mining)
ACG Project No. TER 9702
This development of Sirovision: 3D imaging as a mining tool was initially funded by a consortium of Australian mining companies and coordinated through the ACG.
Mining is a 3D business, but many of the tools we use have been limited by the difficulty of obtaining detailed data in three dimensions and two-dimensional nature of the means of delivery of the data. The CSIRO Division of Exploration & Mining has been delivering a software system to the mining industry that enables users to acquire and analyse true 3D ‘images’ of rockmasses in pit walls and underground mines.
Project deliverables
The system is now being used by a large number of mining companies and consultants and is being used in research applications. So what can it deliver?
The system can deliver measurements of the position and orientation of geological features quickly and in situations where safety considerations prevent access by anything other than a remote sensing system.
The benefits to industry of developing electronic cameras and systems for mine mapping are improved mine design and productivity arising from the following:
- reduced costs of surveying mine sites
- reduced time taken to survey mine sites
- substantially improved coverage and accuracy of surveys (detailed spatial data)
- integration of spatial data with other mine planning and operational tools
- improved operational effectiveness as a result of improved access to survey data, and
- reduced safety hazards associated with surveying of hazardous sites.