Heikki Salmirinne Geological Survey of Finland, … · Heikki Salmirinne Geological Survey of Finland, Rovaniemi Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Mineral Exploration and Mining Operations

Heikki Salmirinne

Geological Survey of Finland, Rovaniemi

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Mineral Exploration and Mining Operations in the Arctic Areas of Finland

Idea: Mineral exploration and mining activity in calls for the development of time-saving, cost-effective and environmentally neutral exploration techniques. Impact: Understand technical and regulatory applicability of UAVs on mineral exploration and mining operations. Find opportunities for new and existing enterprises to offer UAV services in as well as mining and exploration companies to purchase such services 03.06.2016 Heikki Salmirinne 2

“Project will be responsible for benchmarking the

technical possibilities of UAV-based applications and

researching the current regulatory framework

concerning the use of UAVs in Finnish airspace. The

results of the project will be published in a UAV-

MEMO Best Practices Handbook.”

UAV-MEMO

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Mineral

Exploration and Mining Operations in

the Arctic Areas of Finland

http://www.mawsonresources.com/s/Home.asp

http://www.nordkalk.fi/default.asp?viewID=321&language=1

03.06.2016 Heikki Salmirinne 3

UAV-MEMO, 2015-2016

Tekes EAKR/Green Mining funding: 90 %

Partners: 5 %

• Geological Survey of Finland (GTK)

• University of Lapland

Private funding 5 %

• Mawson Oy

• Agnico Eagle Finland Oy

• AA Sakatti Mining Oy

• Nordkalk Oy

Total expenses for two years (2015-2016) 378 000 €

http://www.mawsonresources.com/s/Home.asp

http://www.nordkalk.fi/default.asp?viewID=321&language=1


Trimble UX5

Geodrone X4L

Definition and characteristics

of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)

• Many names:

• Drones, quad/hexa –copters, UAV etc.

• Fixed wing devices use aerodynamics -> longer flight time

• Copters can hover -> slower flight speed

• Can be any size depending on use

• Electric vs. combustion (fuel) engine or hybrid

• Prices from 1k€ to 50k€

• Payloads from 1 to 10 kg (correlates with prices)

• Flight time from 0.5 to 1.5 hour

• Telemetry link -> communication between UAV and pilot

EHang 184


• Magnetic -> mineral exploration

• Electromagnetic (under development) -> mineral exploration

• Gamma radiation -> mineral exploration

• Aerial photography -> volumes, geological mapping

• Lidar -> volumes of rock piles or tailings ponds, geological mapping,

geomorphological studies

• Infrared / Thermal photography -> environmental studies, monitoring tailings

• Hyperspectral imaging

-> environmental studies, geological mapping

• Etc.

Possible suitable UAV survey

techniques and applications for

mineral exploration or mining:


• Benefits of UAVs:

• No terrain obstacles (e.g. swamps, lakes, rivers) -> better data coverage

• Faster; v = 10-15 m/s -> 36-54 line km per hour

• Cost effective (in terms of man-hours)

• Versatile (e.g. line spacing can be changed “on-the-fly”)

• Benefits of ground measurements:

• Stronger anomaly amplitude

• Weight of sensors do not matter (as much)

• Enhanced accuracy & resolution (more details)

UAV vs. ground surveys


UAV vs. traditional

manned airborne surveys

• Benefits of UAVs:

• Lower start-up & operational costs

• Slower flight speed -> finer sampling

• Base station close to survey site

• No need for airfields

• Versatile (e.g. line spacing & direction)

• Benefits of manned flights:

• Heavy payloads & on-board personnel

• Multiple surveys at the same time (Magnetics, EM, Radiometric..)

• Long flight time & large areas

• Tradition & routines (good data quality)


Disadvantages of UAV

1. Light payloads

e.g. gravity systems are far too heavy

EM systems are too large and have high power requirements

radiometric systems have reduced in size where they are nearing the point of being

sufficiently small for UAV use

2. UAV’s are small and produce high levels of electrical noise

noisy platform for geophysical methods

3. UAV’s are light and tend to be disturbed by wind and air turbulence

presents problems with all forms of data

Development of sensors and careful design of survey systems is important!


• Legislation different from country to country

• Legislation in Finland; new aviation regulation on the use of remotely piloted unmanned aircraft and model aircraft came into force in october 2015 (OPS M1-32)

• Limitations for UAVs (in Finland):

• Weight < 25 kg, altitude <150 m, distance <500 m

• Operation modes:

• VLOS – Visual Line of Sight (always visible)

• EVLOS – Extended VLOS (co-pilots see)

• BVLOS – Beyond VLOS (airspace need to be closed!)

• Best option is to reserve the airspace temporarily and use BVLOS operation

Aviation regulations in Finland (TRAFI)


Regulation 3 (6) TRAFI/4482/03.04.00.00/2015 OPS M1-32 Operators of remotely piloted aircraft must provide the Finnish Transport Safety Agency with the following information: a) Details of the operator b) Basic technical information concerning the aircraft c) Intended nature and scope of the operations d) Information about whether operations are to take place over densely populated areas and e) Information about whether operations are to take place over an open-air assembly of persons.


Jukka Hannola http://www.trafi.fi/tietopalvelut/tilaisuuksien_aineistot/rpas_seminaari


UAV-borne magnetic system by Radai Oy

Custom-made UAV with

780W electric engine

Wingspan 2.12 m

Mass 3 kg

Payload 1 kg

Flight speed 10-15 m/s

Flight time 40 min.

Autopilot

Realtime telemetry link

3-component flux-gate

magnetometer


Test 1: UAV-magnetic survey

Survey area in Rovaniemi

• area 1.52 km2

• line spacing 50 m

• line direction SW-NE

• length of flight lines 31.3 km

• 4 flights 7.8.2015

• flight time 1 h and 17 min

• mean speed 12.2 m/s

• mean sampling 1.4 m


UAV-borne magnetic survey Rovaniemi, 2015

GTK ground survey (upward cont. 40m) Radai UAV survey (flight altitude 40 m)


Radai’s fixed wing UAV for magnetic field measurement. Take-off in winter 2016

UAV-borne Magnetic survey in winter condition 2016

Photo: M. Pirttijärvi


Survey areas in Talvivaara Ni-mine

• quarter of the bioleaching heap, 47 ha

• 3 dam area surround the mine, 28 ha

2 survey flights in May 2016

VideoDrone Finland Oy as contractor

• VideoDrone X4S multicopter

• WIRIS 640 camera

• resolution 640 x 512 pixels

• temperature sensitivity 0.05 °C

Test 2: Thermal imaging Photo: H. Panttila


Results of UAV-MEMO -project will be published in the beginning of 2017:

GTK: Tutkimusraportti / Report of Investigation

“UAV-MEMO handbook” Miehittämättömät ilma-alukset malminetsinnässä ja kaivostoiminnassa:

Menetelmät ja käytön sääntely Suomessa

Summary: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Mineral Exploration and Mining Operations:

Applicable Methods and Regulation in Finland

Authors:

Huttunen M., Karinen, T., Konnunaho, J., Kurimo, M., Middleton, M., Niiranen, T., Nykänen,

V., Panttila, H., Pirinen, H., Salmirinne, H. ja Turunen, P.,…


Thanks!

Documents

Heikki Salmirinne Geological Survey of Finland, … · Heikki Salmirinne Geological Survey of Finland, Rovaniemi Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Mineral Exploration and Mining Operations