Lidar capture / Oil sands and mine sites
Drone lidar for oil sands and mine sites
Pit walls advance, dumps grow and tailings beaches shift. Repeat lidar capture measures each change from a safe standoff, keeping crews back from highwalls and soft tailings.
Why it matters
Mine sites change every week. On oil sands leases, Directive 085 also requires fluid tailings to be treated and reclaimed progressively, which means constant measuring of pits, dumps, beaches and landforms.
Our heavy lift airframe is rated IP55 and its long range lidar payload IP54, both from minus 20 to 50 °C, and the payload is rated to detect surfaces up to 950 m away at 10 percent reflectivity. Large pits are scanned from a standoff that keeps the aircraft and the crew clear of the wall.
What you get
- Pit, dump and stockpile volumes for production reconciliation
- Highwall and slope change detection between flights
- Tailings beach and dyke crest capture
- Haul road grade, cross fall and berm height checks
- Reclamation landform capture for closure plans
- Data in your mine planning formats: LAS, DXF and surfaces
How we fit in
Many large operators run in house drone teams. We add capacity through shutdowns and peak season, and serve mid size mines, contractors and engineering consultants who need lidar without building a program of their own.
Capture reference
- Weather rating
- IP55 airframe, IP54 payload
- Operating range
- -20 to 50 °C
- Detection range
- 950 m at 10% reflectivity
- Coordinates
- Site grid or NAD83(CSRS)
- Captured with
- Lidar plus RGB, one flight
- Coverage
- AB base, BC and SK direct
Example scenario
Illustrative, to show the workflowAn earthworks contractor on an oil sands lease is building a reclamation landform and is paid by volume moved.
- The 150 ha work area is flown every two weeks.
- Each flight produces a surface compared to the last and to the design.
- The contractor gets cut and fill volumes for progress billing and a map of areas off grade.
- The owner's engineer receives the same data, so both sides agree on quantities.
Deliverables in this scenario: Biweekly surfaces, volume report, design against as built map, orthomosaic.
Have a site like this? Send the location and what your team needs out the other end, and a scoped quote comes back, usually within one business day, with the positioning method and delivery window stated.
Get a quote for this workCommon questions
Answered plainlyCan you fly on active mine sites?
Yes, with the site's permits and orientation, and in coordination with mine traffic and other aircraft. Flights are planned around blasting and equipment movement.
How often should highwalls be monitored?
It depends on geology and risk. Monthly is common, with extra flights after heavy rain, thaw or any visible movement.
What coordinate systems do you deliver in?
Your site grid or any standard Alberta system, NAD83(CSRS) in UTM or 3TM, with your vertical datum.
Related lidar work
All lidar work
Gravel pits and stockpiles
Stockpiles, pit faces, slopes, stripped soil and disturbed area measured in one visit, so the year end inventory, the activities plan update and the reclamation design all start from the same surface.
Landslide and slope monitoring
Repeat flights from identical flight plans show where a slope moved, by how much and how fast, including under brush on the scarp.