MANY INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS.

Using photogrammetry to support mineral exploration

CHALLENGE

Minerals are critical to our modern society. They are the raw materials needed to build our world. Finding minerals in the nature is called mineral exploration and requires the knowledge of professional geologists as it is a complex process.

Unfortunately, not all discoveries lead to a mineable resource. Indeed, many exploration programs are abandoned because they are not economical. It is then critical to integrate and interpret all the available data in order to be successful.

Drone photogrammetry provides a strong advantage for mineral exploration companies, helping geologists prepare and organise their field campaigns. What if a big picture from the sky of the property to explore was available, prior to sending geologists looking for outcrops and mineral resources? Having a team in the field is expensive, and numerous factors can lead to time losses and thus of money for exploration. Examples include having to cross a river, walking in a swamp area, looking for an old forestry road, bypass a steep slope, etc.

COLLECTION

Aircrafts and drones can be used to collect imagery from the sky. Flying the property prior to team deployment allows to precisely map the terrain. Geologists can then easily prepare their journey in the field avoiding getting stuck and losing time to overcome physical obstacles.

PROCESSING

Correlator3DTM provides a powerful tool to quickly process imagery directly the field. Indeed, the software is extremely fast, produces high-quality outputs, is simple to use and can be run on a standard laptop. Geospatial data such as digital elevation models and orthomosaics generated in the field saves time and money to the exploration companies, greatly improving their efficiency in the field.

INTERPRETATION

A major advantage of integrating photogrammetry in the process of mineral exploration is to help mapping the outcrops. For example, geologists can easily fly a drone and convert the acquired data into geological models to study the outcrop. In fact, having visible bedrock imagery allows some initial geological sampling, analysis and interpretation. Moreover, channel or grab samples being visible from the images provide a strong and accurate way to map and precisely locate the results. Vectorized 2D or 3D features can also be exported to standard GIS tools.

Correlator3DTM also provides tools like 3D change detection or volumetric calculation, often required reports and permits in mineral exploration, such as the amount of excavated material volumes in trenches or overburden thickness.

BENEFITS

Being able to save and optimize time in the field by having geospatial data available gives a strong financial and logistical advantage to mineral exploration companies. Teams can still work and analyse the data once back in the office. The maps also provide a simple way of communicating results of field / drilling campaigns to investors, as well as improving the quality of press releases or reports.