Ways Drones Make Aggregates and Mining Companies More Profitable
Aggregates and mining sites are complex structures composed of many moving parts. If any one part of a system were to be knocked out of alignment, it could ripple across the entire business and result in significant financial loss. To avoid this, business leaders need to seek out new technologies to help them identify flawed processes or potential problems before they occur. Drone technology, which is well suited to dynamically changing and dangerous environments, is proving to be the most valuable tool available today.
Drone technology combined with geospatial software and analysis can make aggregates and mining companies more profitable through three things:
- Strengthening inventory data accuracy & reliability
- Increasing frequency & consumption, and
- Improving worker safety
Let’s dive into each of these.
Strengthen inventory data accuracy & reliability: Reduce costs and strengthen inventory confidence with highly accurate data.
The quality and accuracy of inventory data can make or break a P&L. When it comes to assessing credible and accurate volume calculations, the type of equipment and method of data processing will have significant impact. Yet, many aggregates and mining companies rely on traditional surveying methods like walking around a site to take manual measurements. These methods have been proven to deliver limited accuracy, accounting for only 75-85% of the true pile volume. This gap in true inventory knowledge opens companies up to financial risk. Traditional methods just aren’t keeping up with today’s business. Done solutions use the highest grade industrial sensors and proprietary, purpose-driven algorithms to measure piles within 97-99% accuracy of the true volume.
With Drones you can:
- Confidently report production levels to auditors, shareholders and business teams
- Realize cost savings from less material degradation, and
- Reduce labor costs through an easier inventory management process
Increase frequency & consumption: Easily capture enough data to identify patterns and make intelligent decisions.
To make intelligent business decisions, aggregates and mining companies need more than just accurate data – they need access to timely, consistent data in order to identify trends and observe larger patterns. Limited datasets provide a limited view, making operational and financial decisions a challenge. Cumbersome survey systems that need specialized training or a lot of time to use only contribute to the problem by encouraging fewer inventory cycles. This in turn provides management with only small snapshots in time, leaving businesses without the insights they need most.
A drone can be deployed on-demand, up to six times faster than traditional survey methods. Quick and easy to use, it encourages more frequent and regular data capture, at a more granular level. With this option you can:
- Eliminate missed revenue opportunities
- Improve customer relationship through properly filled orders, and
- Improve dataset consistency for better identification of inventory issues.
Improve worker safety: Protect employees by using an automated system that operates above the worksite.
Employees are the most valuable and important asset of any company, but the reality of the aggregates and mining industry is that it can be dangerous. It requires operating heavy equipment at high speeds to stockpile or move overburden and source materials. Manual surveys done on or near active traffic areas and hazards such as high walls can also pose great physical risk to the workers taking the measurements.
Drones allows businesses to better protect their workers by using a completely autonomous system to collect high-resolution imagery from safely above active operation sites. The ability to visualize and analyze the site in 3D and in near real time gives your team the chance to make different and better decisions about how to manage the site. Whether your team is collecting the data or our team is collecting the data, drones make mines and quarry’s a safer place to work. This can all you to:
- Decrease insurance premiums by reducing on-site foot traffic
- Improve traffic routes, optimize haul roads and stockpile locations and efficeintly plan emergency egress routes, and
- Reduce liabilities by identifying hazardous areas before they become a problem.
