Mining Data
How abundant mining industry data solves
long-standing challenges and leverages advancements
by David Chen
A fter centuries of study, geologists know
to use the clues that are above the earth
to make reliable predictions about what
lies below. For instance, mining industry
professionals know how to interpret the
patterns on the exposed faces of rock walls in
order to determine the underlying structure
and geometry of the ores beneath. But that
doesn’t mean those interpretations are always
correct — and geologists would prefer to have
more mining industry data at their disposal
before making consequential decisions about
how to best design a pit to maximize safety
and yield.
Fortunately, that data has never been more
abundant. Technological advancements make
collecting, storing, analyzing and leveraging
data possible on a massive scale. The current
data-driven revolution has implications for
several industries and mining is no exception.
Consider a scenario in which geotechnical
engineers use in-depth geological data
alongside high-resolution 3D models to
design a pit shell and extraction plan. With
a detailed model of the area bench to work
from, engineers can measure and design where
the blast holes should be to maximize yield
and safety on-site. Before, they’d have had to
www.miningengineeringmagazine.com Mınıng engıneerıng    JANUARY 2021
guess. Now, thanks to the scale, variety, depth
and accuracy of data available, mining isn’t the
conundrum it once was.
The evolution of big data in mining
For centuries, surveyors collected only
point measurements; it wasn’t until recently
that they collected 3D data. Geologists would
have to go on-site and walk up to the rock
face in order to do their analysis. Sending
someone to take on-site measurements is
a well-established approach for getting the
observed data that geologists need to make
accurate decisions. But traditional surveying
and analysis also come with severe limitations.
Those drawbacks all relate to the fact
that surveyors are people who traverse vast
and dangerous mine sites. It takes time to get
from one place to another, and hazardous
conditions may hinder — or outright eliminate
— surveying in certain spots. Factor in that
surveyors are getting
bombarded with information
requests, and it’s clear why David Chen is head of research
they’re known for being and development at Skycatch in
the busiest people on any San Francisco, CA, email david@
mine site — and why the skycatch.com.
amount of information they
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Mining Data
can collect is severely limited. As critical as
surveying may be, it’s hardly the most efficient
or consistent manner for mapping a site,
especially with the advent of rapid 3D data
capture in the mining industry.
Technology facilitates new forms of data
collection that are unencumbered by the
same obstacles facing traditional, lidar (light
detection and ranging) or manual surveying.
To start, these technologies are much easier
to use than surveying equipment; they require
fewer highly trained surveyors, and there’s less
risk that equipment issues will ruin the data
quality or quantity.
Compared to all those surveying options,
tech-driven forms of data collection also
deliver the high levels of detail that geologists
and geotechnical engineers require when
evaluating a mine site. That’s true broadly
speaking because technology can survey much
larger swaths of land in less time than it would
take an army of human surveyors. It also
applies to the data’s depth, because technology
can identify and track details that would be
invisible to traditional surveying equipment.
Mining industry data promises to transform
how mines operate and improve almost every
metric that matters. Consider how things
work now. Only the highest-priority tasks get
surveyed, because there isn’t enough time or
resources to explore everything geologists
and geotechnical engineers want and need to
know. But now that it’s faster, easier and more
economical to collect significant amounts
of high-definition mining data from across
an active mine site, all information requests
become a high priority.
Geologists and geotechnical engineers can
now answer any question or explore whatever
facet of analysis because it requires so little
to extract the necessary data. In the best
cases, it requires no surveyors at all — using
automated technologies to remove the biggest
bottleneck to data collection that exists at
today’s mine site.
The real-world impact of data science in
geology
As geologists and geotechnical engineers
begin to capitalize on all the data currently
at their disposal, their ability to manage and
optimize a mine site improves exponentially.
For example, catastrophic failures
often show early warning signs like bulges.
Unfortunately, limited surveying resources
mean these critical indicators get overlooked
until preventable problems turn into
expensive disasters that can cost hundreds of
32 JANUARY 2021     Mınıng engıneerıng www.miningengineeringmagazine.com
millions of dollars.
Replacing slow-moving surveyors with
360-degree view technology ensures that
everything that requires attention receives
it, making mines preemptive and proactive
as never before. These kinds of situations
are currently monitored by things like laser
and radar sensors that monitor a single point
where failures may occur. Rapid and large-
area 3D captures enable better coverage and
higher-fidelity data that can aid in predicting
failures.
Another use case involves sending
automated technologies like drones into
dangerous or other less accessible areas of
the mine. Meanwhile, human surveyors limit
their activities to less risky areas and apply
their experience and expertise to tasks less
suited for machines. In all cases, even those
where humans operate machinery, they’re
maximizing their value to the mine site while
minimizing the risk to themselves.
The greatest impact of data science in
geology is to fill in the gaps in understanding
left by traditional surveying, which attempts
to understand the whole of the mine site
by measuring some and extrapolating the
rest. Current methods are also reactive, only
sending surveyors out when data is needed.
Better methods would be able to
capture large swaths of data that can be
made available for measurement by anyone
anywhere. Tireless technologies can repeatedly
measure every inch of the site. That way,
geologists have a complete and accurate
representation of the physical mine site to
better pinpoint where ore bodies are or build
efficient extraction plans.
Geologists would concede that surveying
is an important, albeit imperfect, process.
It impedes their work and clouds their
understanding as much as it does the opposite.
Technology removes the obstacles to having
perfect visibility across an entire mine site,
giving decision-makers the insights they
need to act quickly, confidently and (most
importantly) accurately.
Use geological data management in
strategic decision-making
By itself, mining industry data doesn’t
have any value. It’s only valuable as a
decision-making tool that guides geologists,
geotechnical engineers and others toward
making smarter choices consistently.
Collecting as much data as possible doesn’t
add much to a mine operation unless internal
decision-makers can put that data to some
 Mining Data

productive use. for detecting movement — can only

Here are several examples of how superior
mining industry data ties directly into strategic
decision-making:
1. Stockpile management: Assessing the
size of stockpiles yields notoriously
inaccurate results due to factors like
cratering and the fact that stockpiles
settle in inconsistent ways. Technology
can account for these variances
and deliver much more accurate
measurements of stockpiles — and do
so in less time. Those assessments will
help geologists make up for the decline
in productivity that’s happened over
the last decade, because geologists
will have reliable metrics about how
much material is being produced and
transported.
2. Failure prevention: When high-
resolution 3D images of a mine site
replace the unsophisticated scans most
geologists and geotechnical engineers
currently rely on, they can identify
where a highwall or bench might fail.
And when collecting these images
with something like a drone requires
relatively little effort, geologists and
geotechnical engineers can track
changes between images and identify if
and when something is at risk of failure.
More simply, 3D visualizations improve
on every other means of mapping and
modeling elements of a mine site, which
helps operators prevent failures and
make the best use of the resources at
hand.
3. Tailings dam monitoring: Many
mine operators already use internet-
connected sensors to monitor tailings
dams. While this is a high-tech upgrade
over the analog methods of the past,
it’s still not perfect. Sensors — whether
radar- or laser-based or piezometers
monitor discreet locations considered
high risk. That leaves long spans of the
dam invisible to observation. Adding
another means of observation to the
mix, like a drone, allows operators to
monitor the entire dam in detail. If a
section is beginning to bow, bulge or
show other evidence of degradation,
engineers can respond sooner rather
than later.
4. Project visibility: Mining industry data
eliminates unknowns throughout a
mine site. For example, with detailed
images, engineers can identify where
the last holes were drilled, verify
that benches were built according to
the geotechnical engineer’s design,
and confirm that pipelines for water
drainage are in the right place. All the
issues important for maximizing ore
extraction and on-site safety at the
same time become easier to navigate
with the aid of mining industry data.
Any aspect of the mine that decision-
makers can’t monitor with detail and
consistency represents a risk they can’t
easily manage.
The opportunities to apply data analytics
in the mining industry to strategic decision-
making are nearly endless. Conversely, the risks
that mine operators take by relying exclusively
on traditional surveying or limited tools for
collecting mining industry data are becoming
harder to accept. Geological data management
has always been at the core of this industry.
Now that tools exist that make data
exponentially more accessible, insightful
and instructive, it’s hard to argue those tools
aren’t necessary — especially once they start
to distinguish the profitable mine sites from
the others. The data already exists and so do
the tools to collect it. All that’s missing is the
willingness to do things differently. n

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