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ACCESS The Elios 3 has provided remote access to post-blast areas, as well as to dangerous environments with reduced risks to staff, while speeding up inspection time by up to 60%. |
SAFETY The use of the Elios 3 as a remote surveying tool eliminates risk exposure for staff, helping limit work in confined spaces, at height, and in unknown environments. |
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COST SAVING Thanks to using the Elios 3, the IFDC team has helped an underground mine save $500,000 for post-blast inspections while providing critical data. |
ACCURACY Results from surveys with the Elios 3 are highly accurate, showing as little deviation as 0.3% from ground truth. This level matches the requirements at this mine for volume calculations and condition assessments, alongside a variety of other projects. |
Underground surveys at mines are necessary at nearly every stage of a mine’s life, from initial excavations to assessing blasts, responding to unexpected scenarios, and planning backfill of caverns. Accurate volume calculations and monitoring of conditions are vital to the overall mine management, enabling smooth operations through careful data analysis.
IFDC is a specialized company providing advanced inspection services across the mining, oil and gas, and water industries in Oman. The team has found that the Elios 3 drone is the perfect solution for challenging underground surveys at mines.
IFDC has been working with the Elios 3 drone since November 2023, finding that it helps them gather data in challenging environments where access is limited or even impossible. Remote surveys with the drone’s LiDAR payload allow the IFDC team to collect data that was previously unavailable. Thanks to their Elios 3, they’ve been able to eliminate work in confined spaces, at height, and in unstable environments.
IFDC initially deployed the Elios 3 for visual stope inspections, allowing us to access hazardous areas remotely and capture high-resolution imagery. Building on that success, IFDC advanced to volume calculations using georeferenced LiDAR data, enabling precise measurements of stopes without the need for physical entry. This approach has significantly reduced inspection time and improved safety, as clients no longer need to wait for ground support or roof stabilization before sending personnel underground for data acquisition.
A scan with the Elios 3 provides a high level of detail for surveyors working in mines
The Elios 3 is a unique drone, specially designed for surveying and data collection projects in unsafe environments. Its custom features make it rugged, reliable, and ready to fly in extremes, even with no GPS. The specific features and capabilities that make it valuable in mining applications include:
The mine being surveyed by the IFDC team is a 3-level operation utilizing a vertical drilling system. The vertical voids, known as stopes, were initially inspected by IFDC using the Elios 3 drone to perform visual inspections of crosscuts, allowing the team to understand the stope orientation and geological layout. In cases where blockages or large rock masses were suspected—yet not visible or clearly detected through seismic surveys—the Elios 3 was deployed to gather high-resolution visual data, enabling more informed decision-making in complex underground environments.
A LiDAR point cloud captured by IFDC at an underground mine for a surveying mission
Later, the mine operators asked the IFDC team to test their Elios 3 for post-blast inspections. After a controlled blast, the ground is unstable, and the conditions can be particularly difficult. A ground support system, such as meshing, must be installed to secure access to the roof and brow. IFDC was asked to use the Elios 3 immediately after the blast to perform a scan ahead of any ground support installations. The IFDC pilots flew the drone in a lateral and spiral flight pattern to ensure complete LiDAR coverage of the entire space - something that is not possible with traditional laser scanners.
The data was then processed with Flyability’s Inspector software and exported to third-party software for alignment and to define a virtual reference plane. Surveyors can then conduct reliable volumetric calculations of the blasted void to determine the efficacy of the blast and the material that moved. The Elios 3’s camera also provides a visual inspection to check for unexpected cracks that may be created in the cross-sections.
In the past, this data was inaccessible until after meshing work, which can expose staff to some risk and requires a slow process before the next blast can be planned and placed. Instead, with the Elios 3, the drone can gather data immediately after the gas has been removed post-blast, and the volume calculation can be done in minutes. By the time the drone’s scan is complete, the team can prepare the next blast while knowing they have gathered all of the data they need to track progress.
The IFDC team repeatedly visited this mine to carry out routine surveys with their Elios 3 drone. However, when there was a localized ground collapse, their team was asked to help investigate. The collapse was suspected to be caused by an underlying water-bearing soft formation, but with no safe way to access it without significant labor and costs, it remained an unconfirmed theory. The combination of an unstable floor and roof, likely due to softening from water ingress, made it entirely inaccessible.
Instead of putting people at risk, the IFDC team flew the Elios 3 into the collapsed area. The onboard lighting helped identify the exact point where the problem was coming from - as suspected, there was water ingress from a fractured bedding plane. This inspection confirmed the presence of a subsurface water-saturated zone.
Thanks to the Elios 3’s data, the mine owners could immediately plan the repair work with all of the information that they needed. They implemented a restoration and grouting plan thanks to the pinpointed water ingress point. In this case, the Elios 3 proved invaluable by delivering actionable insights safely and efficiently.
The Elios 3 has been a game-changer for post-blast calculations at this mine. The IFDC team has now completed 15 separate missions at the site, repeatedly providing LiDAR scans with an accuracy of +/- 5 to 10 centimeters in confined, GPS-denied environments. This level of accuracy is sufficient for volume calculations, structural integrity assessments, and cavity visualization at this mine. When conditions are good, the IFDC’s results have deviated less than 0.3% from ground truth, confirming the reliability of the workflow.
The Elios 3 and IFDC have saved $500,000 over the course of 15 projects, massively reducing surveying costs and the associated risks with post-blast surveys
The total savings related to the improved speed of inspections, along with time saved for planning, decision-making, and resource allocation, amount to $500,000 in just 15 projects. This demonstrates the value of using the Elios 3 for these types of projects. In addition, the Elios 3’s intervention during the water ingress incident reduced inspection time by over 60% and provided highly actionable data.
Remote surveying technology for underground mines is a game-changing innovation, offering savings related to safety, efficiency, and resource management. The use of the Elios 3 by the IFDC team in Oman has made a huge positive impact on this mining site - and it's just one of several instances where remote inspections with the Elios 3 are making a difference. The results are clear: the Elios 3 is revolutionizing underground mine surveys.
Discover more about how the Elios 3 is used in underground mines around the world!