Abstract
Improved haul road conditions can positively impact mine operations resulting in increased safety, productivity gains, increased tire life, and lower maintenance costs. For these reasons, a monitoring program is required to ensure the operational efficiency of the haul roads. Currently, at Bald Mountain mine, monthly site severity studies, ad hoc inspections by front-line supervisors, or operator feedback reporting is used to assess road conditions. These methods are subjective and provide low temporal resolution data. This case study presents novel unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technologies, applied on a critical section of haul road at Bald Mountain, to showcase the potential for monitoring haul roads. The results show that orthophotos and digital elevation models can be used to assess the road smoothness condition and to check the road design compliance. Moreover, the aerial mapping allows detection of surface water, rock spillage, and potholes on the road that can be quickly repaired/removed by the dedicated road maintenance team.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the support of Kinross Gold for conducting the field experiments.
Funding
This study was funded by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) (grant number CRDPJ 508741-17) and Ontario Center of Excellence (OCE) (grant number 28271).
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Medinac, F., Bamford, T., Hart, M. et al. Haul Road Monitoring in Open Pit Mines Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: a Case Study at Bald Mountain Mine Site. Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration 37, 1877–1883 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42461-020-00291-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42461-020-00291-w