Mining Technology


Geological and Geotechnical Mapping Using 3D Imaging


Datamine - For When Mining gets Serious.

The Datamine Group is the world's leading supplier of technology to the mining industry. Our goal is to become a key business partner for mining companies and consultancies by offering the best products and the best people in every major mining region in the world.

Datamine offices around the world are now shipping Studio 3, the latest version of Datamine's market leading Resource and Reserve Management System. With the release of Studio 3 we are now the first mining technology vendor offering integrated Virtual Reality!

Virtual Reality allows you to go beyond geological modeling and mine design! Now engineers can create a design and check how it will look to the production personnel who work it. You can place fixed and mobile plant into the mine environment to ensure the design is workable. Trucks and LHDs can be driven from the "operator's view" along proposed haul routes to check intersections and ramps in open pit and crosscut and tramming routes underground. "Float" outside the vehicle to check clearance dimensions for spotting and turning.

Studio 3 with InTouch Virtual Reality is available right now to new customers and as a "maintenance upgrade" to existing customers. Studio 3 is completely compatible with Studio 2.

Datamine is setting a new standard by becoming the first mining technology company to integrate a full virtual reality system into its core resource / reserves management system.

Imagine what can be achieved when you visualise geology, phased mine plans, safety considerations and mine-site rehabilitation schemes across multiple projects in a virtual world - well, starting with Studio 3, Datamine’s InTouch Virtual Reality technology comes standard with Studio Core.

You can place fixed plant and mobile equipment anywhere in the mine and check mine designs for clearances and safety margins. You can sit in the cab and operate the equipment from an operator’s point of view and see what he or she will see on the job. Drive a truck along the haul road you have designed and check the corners and intersections for visibility.

InTouchGPS can take live telemetry feed from mobile equipment in the pit to show the real time position of the equipment as well as status, task and load.

Applications of InTouch:

* Collaborative Immersive Resource Development - Geology and Mine Design

* Safety Reviews of mine designs – open pit and underground.

* GPS feed for real-time visualization or “shift replay” for productivity reviews.

* Executive Presentations for use at AGMs, public meetings and executive seminars.

* Mine Monitoring and Control mimic panel of the entire operation.

The desktop data immersion allows users to interrogate geochemistry, topography, structure, and geotech data and relate it to geology, mine planning, grade control, haulage, stockpiles, plant and fixed mining assets.

Exploration and mining staff will be able to visualise multiple forms of data in an easy-to-use 3D environment. The reality experience of immersion aids the recognition of trends and reduces the risk of data errors and minimising mine design problems.

A virtual world model of an operating pit can be built by draping aerial photos on the terrain model, linking objects to external datasets like blast models, stockpiles, telemetry, assays, maps, sections, schedules and any photorealistic objects that emulate reality. Even moving objects like trucks can operate on real world routes.

Use this to make realistic mine presentations for the public, shareholders, auditors, banks, regulatory agencies, and investors.

InTouch provides a new intuitive way to look at your geological and mining information. It uses Virtual Reality modeling with connections to external data sources to provide a realistic and simple visual method of examining and navigating through all your data. Uses include:

* Geological data immersion - unlock the full value of your geological data with full stereovision immersion right there on your desktop. Display fault planes, geophysical grids, geological interpretations, structural surface models, grade surface models, drillholes and terrain surfaces, then color and texture the objects to reveal their hidden secrets.
* Real world data connection - every object in the virtual world can be linked to other documents and programs accessible on the local network, company intranet or worldwide internet. You can click on say a drillhole to display a drill log or section plot, or on a blast markup line to report the tonnes and grades, or step inside the mine office and click on the telephone to dial-up and upload the latest drilling results - the possibilities are endless and limited only by your imagination.
* Terrain navigation - jump into any vehicle and take it for a drive up the road, across country, or down the mine. Take a visitor or a company director on a virtual tour of your exploration project or minesite. Change the transparency of the terrain surface and peer down to see the orebody and pit design surface.
* Fly-thru's - drape an aerial photo over your terrain surface and fly around your mine. Swing down into the pit then dive below ground and fly right inside the orebody.
* Simulations - define haulage routes, then add trucks, shovels, draglines, drill rigs and service vehicles and watch the mine come to life.

Conventional 3D visualization programs do little more than spin the data around while you view it, whereas InTouch is a 3D immersion system which puts you right inside your data. The data links then give you access to as much detail about the objects as you want, or wish to publish, and enable easy access to plots, logs, reports and charts without specialist knowledge of where the data is stored, the format it is stored in or the programs used to create them - in other words, it puts everyone in touch with the project. And because none of the objects, or the linked information are stored inside the document, any changes to the data are automatically reflected in the world view.

InTouchGPS equipment tracking

Attach mobile equipment to dispatch/GPS system

* Modular Mining
* SmartMine

Full VR immersion capabilities of InTouch

* Build virtual world models of operating pits
* Drape aerial photo on terrain model
* Link objects to external data (blast models, stockpile data, telemetry, assays, maps, sections, schedules…)
* Navigate on, above or below surface

Animated world provides accurate representation of real world activities eg plant movements

Click on any object to view status, statistics, reports, plans, charts, notes…

Display safety alerts and query

Actual vehicle movements are saved to a history file and can be replayed for analysis