US-based Strayos and India-based Squadrone have announced a new partnership that will combine mine-to-mill artificial intelligence-based solutions with drone surveying to “bring futuristic mines to more sites in India”, Strayos CEO, Ravi Sahu, says.

Squadrone bills itself as being one of the most progressive companies in the application of aerial intelligence in the mining industry in India, providing tailor-made UAV solutions for various applications from mining to drilling & blasting to disaster management. It provides drone mapping, surveying and site digitalisation services to its clients to efficiently manage their site’s day-to-day operations in mining, it says.

Strayos is an AI-based company that uses data from a diverse range of smart tools, edge devices and sensors, including drones, to create 3D digital models of sites. Site digitalisation is further enhanced by Strayos’ end-to-end site AI tools that analyse data from various sources to shape safe and immediately usable key insights, automation and accurate predictions, it says.

This collaboration will pave the way for novel holistic site-level insights, according to the companies. Along with the digital 3D site model created from drone data, users can now leverage Strayos’ Geology Detection AI, Drill & Blast AI and Site Analytics AI, with inventory management. With the addition of these tools, mining stakeholders across numerous site operations will be able to pool and access data from the entire operation, according to the companies.

For instance, blasting engineers will have access to geological data when designing blasts, drillers will be able to accurately predict how their drilling affects the mill’s performance and mine engineers will be able to plan site design with precision based on up-to-date geology and optimised drilling & blasting to reduce load and haul costs.

Brad Gyngell, COO, Strayos, said: “Mining in India is going through a major transformation presently, with drones and AI being the perfect tools to accelerate these advancements. We couldn’t be more excited to collaborate with Squadrone and deliver superior solutions to our customers in India.”

Cyriac Joseph, CEO, Squadrone, Bangalore, India, said: “We pride ourselves on being able to provide the mining industry with the best services and the best products in open-pit mining, drilling and blasting, rock mechanics, mine safety and underground mining. Our boots on the ground and Strayos’ cloud-based Al tools will greatly benefit the Indian mining industry with these specialised applications to facilitate amazing analytics with visual intelligence through drone technology.”