Usage of unmanned aerial vehicles in open mine sites

Abstract

Today, technological developments show themselves in the fields dealing with earth sciences as in every field. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), one of these technological developments, have offered an innovative approach to many sectors. In addition to being used in various fields such as geodesy, disaster management, meteorology, agriculture and security, its use in mining has also become widespread. Topographic surveying problem in open pit mining sites is one of the important challenges to be overcome. Topographic measurements require expensive surveying equipment and professional technical personnel. UAV technology provides cost control to the difficulties encountered in the fields and can easily produce solutions with time saving and measurement accuracy. In recent years, in mining activities in the world; It is used in areas such as production planning, blasting, ore production and stock tracking and volumetric calculations, monitoring of slope sensitivities and changes, calculating the amount of waste, dust emission, security. In this article, the structure of UAVs, their advantages and areas of use in open mining areas, the availability of reasonable results and the benefits that affect the studies are explained by adding case studies in open mining areas.