A new cavity monitoring system developed byGeoSight is gaining a lot of interest. The MINEi is a ruggedised, wireless laser system with built-in battery pack that performs 3D scans of open stopes and ore passes. “The market was crying for a robust, wireless solution for the underground survey market, so I registered GeoSight and started doing some R&D in 2006,” said John Lupton, President. “We worked on it for five years and launched our first prototype in 2010. Since then, we’ve built 22 systems for customers around the world.”The laser is introduced into openings at the end of a series of 1.5 m rods extending from a wheeled buggy. The benefit of being wireless is that there are no cables to get twisted, hung up or run over, explained Lupton. The laser communicates wirelessly with a tablet or laptop, capturing geospatial data that can be imported into the mine plan, and overlaid with the design rings and geological data.
“Cavity monitoring allows you to determine the amount and value of the ore that was left behind and how many tonnes of waste rock came in that shouldn’t have,” explained Lupton. “Forget what you planned or budgeted. This is the gospel truth, and it’s available to you before the mill calls up and tells you what you sent. You’ve got some data now that says you didn’t send 100,000 t, you only sent 80,000 t, and the grade wasn’t 4.5, it was 3.5. A survey will tell you if $1 million of ore was left in a corner and allow you to come up with a plan to retrieve it, rather than walk away from it.”
Lupton performed contract surveying in Sudbury for Vale, FNX (now KGHM International) and other mining companies in Northern Ontario while the MINEi was in development. “They needed contract surveys because their systems were down so much,” said Lupton. “Until now, lasers were delicate. Their internal workings were high-maintenance and the turnaround time for repairs was slow.”
The MINEi by comparison is ruggedised, waterproof and can be calibrated by the user. Lupton also advocates the use of his lasers for surveying ore passes and other raises to determine the cause and location of hangups. He cites one example that had been “blocked up three years ago for four weeks and last year for two weeks, and they had no idea exactly where and no idea why,” said Lupton.
A fuller report on Geosight will appear in our annual Canadian technology focus in the April 2013 magazine.