Tag Archives: Exyn

Exyn drones help Rupert Resources map Pahtavaara gold mine

IoT, Mine surveying, Mining equipment, Mining services, Mining software, Precious metals, , , , , , , , , ,

Exyn Technologies says it has completed a successful mission for Rupert Resources at its historic Pahtavaara gold mine in northern Finland.

By harnessing Exyn’s autonomous drones, Rupert Resources was able to produce highly detailed 3D models of the mine, which is otherwise completely inaccessible to traditional CMS tools or even manually piloted drones, Exyn said.

“Rupert Resources needed to plan for a potential restart of operations by estimating tonnage previously removed from the mine, as well as calculating the remaining ore in heavily restricted areas,” the company said.

Exyn’s fully autonomous aerial robots mapped 30 stopes in three days with a single drone. In addition, Exyn mounted a version of its robot to a car to scan all access drifts which, together with the stope maps, provided a complete mine map in under four days.

Jukka Nieminen, Managing Director of Rupert Finland, said: “Rupert is actively seeking new technologies where we think big gains can be made in terms of safety, productivity and accuracy.

“Exyn achieved accurate assessment of the volume of remaining stopes at Pahtavaara with an unprecedented level of detail, and obviously the use of remote technologies means that this was achieved with a greatly reduced degree of risk. We have no hesitation in recommending this technology.”

Exyn’s autonomous drones are built on the exynAI™ platform, enabling aerial robots to fly intelligently without a human pilot using a multitude of high-tech sensors and AI-based software, the company says. The system operates without the need for GPS or external communications, and is deployed as an all-in-one software and hardware package.

Raffi Jabrayan, Director of Markets & Industries, Exyn Technologies, said: “Our mission with Rupert presented some of the most difficult and seemingly impossible challenges to navigating, analysing, and assessing a mine – which therefore makes it exemplary in demonstrating the heights of Exyn’s capabilities.

“Our AI-based software and state-of-the-art sensors were able to get the job done quickly and safely, proving once again that no exploration task is impossible for Exyn drones.”

Dundee Precious Metals to map underground mines with Exyn A3R autonomous drones

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Exyn Technologies says it has signed up Dundee Precious Metals as the first commercial customer for its Autonomy Aerial Robots (A3Rs).

Dundee will use the fully autonomous aerial system for data collection in GPS-denied environments to advance its initiatives focused on the digitisation and automation of its underground mining operations, according to Exyn.

Theophile Yameogo, Vice President Digital Innovation, Dundee Precious Metals, said, “The Exyn A3Rs allow frequent and hi-resolution mapping of underground environments while reducing risks to personnel.”

Yameogo said the company was already very excited at the results of the maps it was seeing. “As we further integrate the A3Rs into our workflow, we anticipate a transformation of operations compared to today’s models,” he added.

Exyn’s A3Rs are driven by the company’s proprietary software, exynAI™, a robust commercially available software platform enabling full autonomy for aerial robots. Exyn has deployed its A3Rs as a service for customers in the US, Latin America and Europe.

By using Exyn’s aerial robots to automate mapping and surveying, Dundee is, Exyn says, transforming its underground operations in three vital areas:

  • Improving the quality of mapping data captured when compared with traditional surveying techniques;
  • Improving safety by reducing the amount of time spent underground by human operators, and;
  • Increasing operational efficiency by having more accurate and up-to-date information for mine planning.

Exyn’s A3Rs operate without the need for a human pilot and in GPS-denied environments. The company said: “They are fully self-contained, intelligent systems designed to operate without the need for any prior information, persistent communication, or GPS. With all intelligence on board, the vehicle is capable of carrying out high-level missions in complex and completely unknown spaces.”

Exyn’s multi-sensor data fusion pipeline allows each robot to assimilate measurements from a variety of on-board sensors including 3D LIDAR, cameras, and inertial sensors to “generate a robust state estimate of itself and surrounding environments”.

When married with Exyn’s real-time navigation software stack, the robots can safely avoid collisions with both stationary and moving obstacles during requested missions, according to the company. “Moreover, its robots are also able to do real-time Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping to enable highly accurate map generation.”

Dundee operates the Chelopech underground copper-gold mine in Bulgaria and is soon to be producing gold at the Krumovgrad project, also in Bulgaria.