Mine Site Data That Keeps Up With Your Operations - Not Behind Them

Mining sites change every shift. Benches advance, stockpiles grow and shrink, haul roads deteriorate, and pit geometry evolves faster than traditional survey cycles can track. When your survey data is a week old, your planning decisions are a week behind.

Aeroyantra delivers survey-grade drone mapping and LiDAR for mining and quarrying operations - stockpile volume measurement, pit progression tracking, bench and haul road analysis, overburden monitoring, and compliance documentation generated from aerial data that is current, accurate, and defensible.

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Traditional Mine Surveys Cannot Keep Up With the Speed of Modern Operations

Mining and quarrying operations produce data problems that compound daily. Ground-based survey teams working in active pits face access restrictions, safety exposure, and measurement inconsistency. The result is survey data that arrives too late, covers too little, and is disputed too often.

The pattern repeats across mining operations of every scale:

• Stockpile volumes are estimated, not measured - Compaction factor assumptions and manual tape measurements introduce variance of 10-20%, creating inventory disputes between operations, finance, and offtake teams

• Survey personnel are exposed to unnecessary risk - Ground crews working in active blast zones, on unstable bench faces, and near heavy equipment face hazards that drone surveys eliminate entirely

• Pit progression data arrives after decisions are made - Weekly or fortnightly survey cycles mean planning decisions are made on data that no longer reflects current conditions

• Bench geometry deviations go undetected - Slope angles, bench widths, and crest positions that deviate from design go unmeasured until they create geotechnical or compliance problems

• Haul road condition is assessed subjectively - Without consistent aerial monitoring, haul road deterioration is identified reactively after equipment damage or productivity loss

• Compliance documentation is assembled reactively - Volume records, bench geometry data, and environmental monitoring reports required by DGMS, IBM, and state mining authorities are assembled from incomplete field records

• Overburden tracking is inaccurate - Without measured surface models, overburden movement and dump volume tracking relies on truck counts and compaction assumptions that do not hold up to audit

The problem is not a lack of operational effort. It is a fundamental limitation of ground-level survey methods in an environment that changes faster than ground crews can measure it.

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Survey-Grade Aerial Data Across Every Critical Mining Measurement

Aeroyantra delivers drone mapping and LiDAR workflows that produce engineering-grade outputs for mining and quarrying operations - from weekly stockpile measurement to full pit progression tracking and regulatory compliance documentation.

With RTK, PPK, and GCP-supported workflows, Aeroyantra achieves 2-3 cm horizontal accuracy and vertical precision suitable for volume calculation, bench geometry verification, and regulatory reporting across open-cast mines and quarries of any scale.

What that means for mining operations:

• Accurate stockpile volumes - Measured from aerial surface models, not estimated from compaction factors or truck counts

• Current pit geometry - Weekly or fortnightly pit progression data that reflects conditions as they are, not as they were

• Personnel safety preserved - All survey data collected from drone altitude - no ground access to active blast zones or unstable faces required

• Bench geometry verified - Slope angles, bench widths, and crest positions measured against design at every survey cycle

• Compliance-ready documentation - Georeferenced, time-stamped records formatted for DGMS, IBM, and state mining authority requirements

• Haul road condition tracked - Consistent aerial monitoring of haul road surface condition and gradient for maintenance planning

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Replace Stockpile Estimates With Measurements Your Finance Team Can Stand Behind

Stockpile measurement is the highest-frequency, highest-stakes survey task in mining operations. Inventory figures that are wrong by 10-15% create disputes between operations and finance, undermine offtake agreements, and produce write-downs that appear without warning at month-end.

Aeroyantra replaces estimation with measurement. Each drone survey produces a Digital Surface Model of every stockpile on site, compared against a baseline to produce accurate, defensible volume data - for every pile, in a single flight.

What Aeroyantra delivers for stockpile measurement:

• Total stockpile volume - Quantified volume of each stockpile derived from surface model comparison against the stockpile base, calculated to within 1-2% accuracy

• Multi-material inventory - Separate volume calculations for ROM ore, crushed product, overburden, waste rock, and any other stockpile type on site

• Tonnage reconciliation - Volume data combined with material density factors to reconcile measured volumes against weighbridge and truck count records

• Stockpile shape and geometry - Precise mapping of stockpile footprints, heights, and slope angles for safety and operational planning

• Inventory change between cycles - Incremental volume change between survey cycles for production reconciliation and dispatch tracking

• Time-series inventory archive - Complete chronological record of stockpile volumes across the operation for audit and reporting

• Multi-site inventory - Single platform access to stockpile data across multiple mine or quarry sites for group-level inventory management

Technical Performance:

Parameter	Specification
Georeferencing	RTK, PPK, GCP-supported
Horizontal accuracy	2-3 cm under proper survey standards
Vertical accuracy	Suitable for volume and inventory calculation
Volume accuracy	Within 1-2% for well-defined stockpile areas
Survey frequency	Weekly, fortnightly, or monthly - configurable
Output formats	GeoTIFF, LAS, DXF, SHP, PDF, CSV - GIS compatible

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Track Every Meter of Pit Advancement

Pit progression data that is a week old is a week's worth of decisions made on the wrong information. Aeroyantra delivers current pit geometry at the frequency your operations require - weekly, fortnightly, or tied to blast cycles - giving planning and engineering teams data that reflects conditions as they are.

What Aeroyantra delivers for pit progression tracking:

• Current pit geometry - Complete 3D surface model of the active pit updated at every survey cycle, showing bench positions, pit floor elevation, and working face geometry

• Excavation volume quantification - Volume of material removed between survey cycles, reconciled against blast design and truck dispatch records

• Design-to-actual pit comparison - Current pit geometry compared against mine design to identify areas ahead of or behind plan, and sections deviating from permitted pit limits

• Pit floor elevation mapping - Precise elevation mapping of the pit floor for dewatering planning, equipment positioning, and grade control

• Working face advance measurement - Quantified face advance between survey cycles by bench and by sector, for production reporting and planning

• Blast pattern verification - Pre-blast and post-blast surface comparison to quantify material movement and verify blast performance against design

• Sump and dewatering monitoring - Identification and profiling of water accumulation in the pit for dewatering planning and pump positioning

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Verify Bench Geometry Against Design Before Geotechnical Problems Develop

Bench slope angles, bench widths, and crest positions that deviate from design are not just a compliance problem - they are a geotechnical risk. Catch-benches that are too narrow, slopes that are too steep, and crests that have been mined beyond permitted limits create instability that develops gradually and fails suddenly.

Aeroyantra measures bench geometry at every survey cycle, giving geotechnical and mining engineering teams the data they need to identify deviations before they become failures.

What Aeroyantra delivers for bench and slope monitoring:

• Bench face slope angle measurement - Precise slope angles measured from the 3D surface model at user-defined intervals along each bench face

• Bench width verification - Measured catch-bench and working bench widths compared against design parameters

• Crest and toe position mapping - Georeferenced crest and toe positions for each bench, enabling comparison against permitted limits and design

• Inter-ramp and overall slope angle calculation - Overall slope angle measurement across multiple benches for geotechnical stability assessment

• Slope deviation heatmap - Color-coded visualization of bench faces showing areas where slope angles deviate from design intent

• Time-series slope change detection - Repeat surveys registered to a common datum, enabling detection of slope movement, tension crack development, and bench degradation between monitoring cycles

• Geotechnical monitoring support - Surface displacement data for geotechnical monitoring programs, supplementing prism and inclinometer data with spatial surface change information

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LiDAR for Mining - Precision Where Photogrammetry Has Limits

Open-cast mining environments present specific photogrammetric challenges: deep pit walls with shadow zones, near-vertical blast faces, dust and haze reducing image quality, and irregular waste rock surfaces where texture matching is unreliable. In these conditions, photogrammetry point clouds introduce errors that affect volume accuracy and bench geometry measurement.

LiDAR eliminates these limitations. Active scanning geometry captures accurate surface data regardless of shadow, surface texture, or atmospheric conditions - producing measurements you can defend in a regulatory audit or a contractor dispute.

What Aeroyantra Extracts from Mining LiDAR Surveys

• High-accuracy pit surface model - Dense, accurate point cloud of the full pit including deep walls, shadowed faces, and near-vertical blast faces that photogrammetry handles poorly

• Bench geometry extraction - Precise crest and toe positions, slope angles, and bench widths extracted from classified point cloud data

• Haul road surface condition - Millimeter-level road surface geometry for pothole detection, gradient analysis, and maintenance prioritization

• Stockpile surface capture in dusty conditions - LiDAR captures accurate stockpile surfaces in high-dust environments where photogrammetry image quality is degraded

• Underground portal and decline mapping - LiDAR capture of portal geometry, decline profiles, and near-surface underground workings for safety and engineering documentation

• Drainage and sump mapping - Precise profiling of pit sumps, drainage channels, and water management infrastructure

• Subsidence and surface movement detection - Time-series LiDAR comparison to detect surface subsidence, slope movement, and ground deformation above underground workings

• Quarry face geometry - Precise capture of quarry face geometry, joint patterns, and blast hole collar positions for blast design support

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Compliance Documentation Built From Measured Data

Mining operations in India operate under regulatory oversight from DGMS, the Indian Bureau of Mines, and state mining authorities. Compliance documentation - volume records, bench geometry data, environmental monitoring reports, and mine plan progress - must be accurate, traceable, and available on demand.

Aeroyantra produces compliance documentation from georeferenced, time-stamped aerial data captured throughout the operational cycle - giving operators records that are accurate, auditable, and ready for regulatory submission.

What Aeroyantra delivers for mining compliance:

• Mine plan progress documentation - Quantified comparison of current pit geometry against approved mine plan for IBM and state authority reporting

• Bench geometry compliance records - Measured slope angles, bench widths, and crest positions compared against DGMS design standards

• Volume compliance reports - Quantified extraction volumes by period, reconciled against approved mining lease limits

• Environmental monitoring records - Georeferenced, time-stamped aerial records of rehabilitation areas, dust suppression coverage, and water management infrastructure

• Overburden dump compliance - Measured dump volumes and slope angles compared against permitted dump design for regulatory reporting

• Progressive rehabilitation documentation - Aerial monitoring of rehabilitation progress on mined-out areas for statutory compliance

• Incident documentation - Rapid aerial assessment of slope failures, equipment incidents, and environmental events for regulatory notification and investigation support

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Complete Deliverables by Operational Need

Deliverable	Stockpile	Pit Progression	Bench Geometry	Overburden	Compliance
High-res orthomosaic	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Digital Surface Model (DSM)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Digital Terrain Model (DTM)	✓	✓	-	✓	✓
Stockpile volume report	✓	-	-	-	✓
Pit progression record	-	✓	-	-	✓
Excavation volume report	-	✓	-	✓	✓
Bench geometry report	-	-	✓	-	✓
Slope deviation heatmap	-	-	✓	✓	✓
LiDAR point cloud (LAS/LAZ)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Haul road condition map	-	-	-	-	✓
Thermal hot spot report	✓	-	-	✓	✓
Compliance report package	-	-	-	-	✓
Time-series archive	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
GIS and Civil 3D exports	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓

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Who Uses Aeroyantra for Mining and Quarrying Operations

Aeroyantra is used by mine managers, survey teams, geotechnical engineers, and compliance officers managing:

• Open-cast coal mining operations under DGMS and IBM oversight
• Metal and mineral open-cast mines requiring regular volume and geometry documentation
• Limestone, granite, and aggregate quarrying operations
• Iron ore and bauxite mining operations requiring bench and pit monitoring
• Sand and gravel extraction sites requiring volume tracking and compliance documentation
• Mine closure and rehabilitation programs requiring progressive monitoring
• Exploration and feasibility stage surveys for new mining leases
• Environmental consultants preparing mining compliance submissions

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Frequently Asked Questions

Q1: How accurate is drone-based stockpile volume measurement compared to manual methods?

With RTK or PPK georeferencing, Aeroyantra achieves stockpile volume accuracy within 1-2% for well-defined stockpile areas. Manual estimation methods - compaction factor calculations and truck count multipliers - routinely introduce variance of 10-20% or more. For inventory reconciliation and offtake agreement purposes, drone-derived measurements are significantly more defensible because they are based on measured surface geometry rather than assumed factors.

Q2: Can drone surveys be conducted safely in active blast zones and near heavy equipment?

Yes, with appropriate operational planning. Drone surveys in active mining areas are conducted during scheduled survey windows - typically during shift changes, meal breaks, or planned blast clearance periods - when equipment is clear of the survey area. Survey personnel operate from safe standoff distances outside the active zone. All operations are planned in coordination with the mine's safety management system. Aeroyantra does not require personnel to enter active blast zones or work near moving heavy equipment.

Q3: How frequently should mining drone surveys be conducted?

Survey frequency depends on operational requirements. For stockpile inventory reconciliation, weekly or fortnightly surveys are standard. For pit progression tracking and production reporting, fortnightly to monthly surveys are typical. For bench geometry compliance monitoring, monthly surveys are generally sufficient. For geotechnical monitoring in areas of concern, weekly surveys may be required. Aeroyantra supports any survey frequency from daily to quarterly.

Q4: Can Aeroyantra produce documentation for DGMS and IBM compliance requirements?

Yes. Aeroyantra produces georeferenced, time-stamped volume reports, bench geometry records, and condition assessments with all data traceable to the aerial survey source. Report formatting for DGMS inspection requirements and IBM annual returns can be configured to match the documentation standards required. We recommend confirming specific format requirements with your mine's compliance team before the first survey cycle.

Q5: How does LiDAR improve accuracy in deep pit sections compared to photogrammetry?

In deep pit sections with steep walls and significant shadow zones, photogrammetry image matching is unreliable - producing point cloud gaps and surface errors that affect volume accuracy and bench geometry measurement. LiDAR active scanning captures accurate surface data regardless of shadow or surface texture, producing complete, accurate point clouds of deep pit walls, shadowed bench faces, and near-vertical blast faces. For pits deeper than 30-40 m with steep walls, LiDAR is the recommended workflow.

Q6: Can Aeroyantra monitor both the active pit and overburden dumps in a single flight?

Yes. Aeroyantra survey flights are planned to cover the full mine site - active pit, stockpile areas, overburden dumps, haul roads, and processing facilities - in a single mission. This produces a complete site dataset from a single flight, enabling volume reconciliation between pit excavation and dump placement in the same survey cycle.

Q7: Can thermal surveys detect spontaneous combustion in coal stockpiles?

Yes. Thermal payload integration with standard photogrammetry surveys adds a hot spot detection layer to stockpile monitoring. Subsurface heating in coal stockpiles produces thermal anomalies on the stockpile surface that are detectable from drone altitude before visible smoke or flame appears. Georeferenced hot spot locations with temperature values are delivered for targeted intervention and monitoring.

Q8: What file formats does Aeroyantra export for mining engineering workflows?

Aeroyantra exports GeoTIFF (orthomosaics and surface models), LAS/LAZ (point clouds), DXF and DWG (feature extraction and design overlays), SHP (GIS vector data), CSV (volume and measurement data), and PDF (compliance and inspection reports). All outputs are compatible with AutoCAD Civil 3D, Maptek Vulcan, Surpac, Leapfrog, and standard GIS platforms.

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Ready to Get Started?

Whether you are managing stockpile inventory, pit progression tracking, bench geometry compliance, or regulatory documentation, Aeroyantra delivers the aerial data your mining teams need - accurately, safely, and at the frequency your operations demand.