[SMM News] Eramet: will use drone data to digitize mining activities

SMM News: recently, Eramet's official website announced that the company and Delair, one of the world's leading manufacturers of drone solutions, have signed a framework agreement for the digital transformation of the group's mining activities, a new collaboration platform for drone data analysis and utilization, which will enhance Eramet's competitiveness and operational performance.

Since January 2019, the delair.ai (Delair Aerial Intelligence) solution has provided equipment for the Ti é baghi mine in New Caledonia, and by the end of the year, all of the Group's mines will be equipped. There are currently nine UAVs flying in Eramet, and by the end of 2019 there will be nine UAVs in operation, including Delair UX11 wings. Thanks to the solution, Delair Eramet will be able to map and analyze approximately 300000 hectares of land annually on all its sites.

The mining sites in Eramet (New Caledonia, Gabon, Senegal, Indonesia) provide a large number of sources of topographic and geological data. Eramet intends to establish a digital model of its mine for real-time commissioning, planning mining projects in a short period of time, monitoring ore stocks, ensuring personnel safety and managing the environmental impact of its sites.

It is reported that the acquisition speed of UAV data has been increased fivefold and accurate to centimeters, which allows Eramet to optimize mine operations, reduce costs and improve measurement safety. Therefore, analysis based on artificial intelligence models will allow continuous measurement and updating of distances, surfaces, volumes, or slopes. The delair.ai platform is interactive and extensible, and can share data in a simple and secure way: backup, collaboration, instruction delivery, and subcontractor management in the cloud. Then, the management of real-time mining operations becomes possible and responds to the strategic plans of Eramet.