Drones have the potential to generate cost savings of over $9 billion over the next two decades across a number of sectors yet there is still some hesitancy in uptake, particularly in mining.
According to a Deloitte Access Economics report commissioned by the Australian Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications in October 2020, the mining industry could realise $2.4 billion in cost savings through to 2040.
Deloitte estimates the market penetration for drones in mining will be around 41% to 75% and worth $202 million by 2040 under a “medium uptake scenario”.
The interest from the mining sector is on the rise, but the barrier to a swifter uptake appears to be a lack of understanding of how to go about incorporating them into daily operations.
One of the key concerns for miners is around the piloting of the drones.
Dario Valenza, the founder of Australian drone company Carbonix, tells Mining.com.au that while the company builds and sells drones, there was a quick realisation that mining companies needed help with flying them.
“We are first and foremost an OEM, so we build the drone and ideally sell it to customers, but we have found that there was some gaps that needed to be filled in various expertise required to make this happen and so we have actually taken on training and operations as a way to just reduce friction to adoption,” he says.
Carbonix makes uncrewed aerial systems that enable high resolution long-range data capture at scale.
Valenza says the company’s drones can cover 12,000 hectares (120km2) a day carrying payloads of 5kg for upwards of six hours.
By comparison typical multi-rotor commercial drones have a more limited endurance and speed.
“It’s really important to make the distinction between different types of drones,” Valenza explains.
He says multi-rotors have more or less become “commoditised” and the barrier to entry is lower because they require less skill to operate, are smaller and limited in their range and flight time.
“So where we are seeing the fit and the attraction is the ability to cover a whole site, like a whole open cut mine, or a mine that’s been rehabilitated in one flight without having to land and relocate and do multiple hops,” Valenza says.
“It’s what you’d be otherwise doing with a helicopter but lower and slower with a number of benefits.”
Drones used in mining operations need to be able to go beyond the visual line of sight, which requires compliance with various regulations and approvals from regulators like the Civil Aviation Safety Authority.
Another requirement that miners also have in place for their existing crewed operations is that a provider be Basic Aviation Risk Standard audited.
BHP (ASX:BHP), for example, has incorporated drones into its iron ore operations, but typically flies multi-rotor drones and keeps them within line of sight. However, there are occasions when the company needs to fly beyond standard operating conditions.
Chief Remote Pilot Shaun Van Goor, who manages the use of drones across the WA iron ore operations, says flying drones in the Pilbara region can be challenging due to temperatures easily, and regularly, exceeding 40 degrees.
BHP has about 80 active pilots flying daily across the iron ore operations.
“They all have been trained and have a remote pilot’s licence issued by Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority,” Van Goor says.
Valenza says the uptake is really down to a combination of having the tool that can do the job and the various regulatory and internal safety standards that have to be met.
While Valenza could not say which miners Carbonix is working with, he did say the company is in talks with the “big four”.
Most of the operations Carbonix’s drones currently traverse are coal mines, but the company is expanding its horizons into other commodities as well.
Valenza estimates that incorporating long range drones into daily operations could save miners around $50-$100 per kilometre, but there are also additional flow-on benefits.
“The follow-on of the indirect savings are really around the way informed decisions can be made on both the operation of the mine site and documenting rehabilitation and things like that,” he says.
“So given that we can fly something around 12,000 hectares per day, basically we can accelerate the evaluation and management of resources, we can maximise asset utilisation by being out there, with rapid mobilisation and demobilisation.
“It’s a different way of doing things because we now have the ability to actively identify maintenance issues, you can eliminate dangerous and time consuming manual inspections and efficiently measure and monitor stockpile inventory levels so that you can assess in real time what is actually happening on the ground.”
Write to Angela East at Mining.com.au
Images: Australian Government, Deloitte Access Economics & Carbonix
