Russia’s Geoscan released an unmanned aerial system capable of improving geological prospecting efficiency tenfold. Last year, in Yakutia Geoscan 401 equipped with an optically pumped magnetometer helped discover extra 200 million tons of iron ore. The company is now engaged in negotiations on rendering exploration services to two extractive enterprises from Asia, whose names are not disclosed. That was reported by Pavel Stepanov, Geoscan CFO, at a conference on UAV held at Kalibr Technopark.
UAVs and software
Geoscan produces both aerial systems and softwarefor processing drone supplied data (photo and video images) to produce 3D models of sites, areas and people. The models are not merely pictures. They permit performing all measurements, checking scales, dimensions and cubature, and integrating the measurements in various geoinformation systems. The facility manufacturing aircraft and copter type UAVs, is located in St Petersburg. According to Kontur.Focus service, Geoscan Ltd. is owned by Dmitry Semenov. The company has three subsidiaries. The group’s 2017 revenue was about RUR 1 bln ($16.5 mio), of which half is generated by supplies of its software to 130 countries worldwide.
Aircraft unmanned aerial survey systems are capable of flying up to 200 kilometers and have flight time of three hours. They are used to accomplish production goals requiring high precision surveying. Copters are used for more localized flights.
Quadcopters instead of field workers
Company’s new product, Geoscan 401 quadcopter with an optically pumped magnetometer increases field workers’ efficiency tenfold and helps discover additional deposits of mineral resources. In Yakutia’s remote Sutam area a new iron ore deposit was discovered. Predicted resources of the entire Sutam field at the moment prospecting works were performed in 2017, were at about 3 bln tons of iron ore. Airborne magnetic measurements increased predicted resources of Sutam field by somewhat 200 to 300 million tons, or additional 10% of the initial assessment.
To explore an area of one square kilometer, a copter needs 20 minutes. If done by field workers, that would take one month and two teams. Besides, the northern part of the area was swamped and inaccessible for geologists. Geoscan 401 surveyed a previously unexplored territory of 20 square kilometers within a day. Neryungrygeophysica’s specialists who performed the works, state the results would have been unattainable without the aeromagnetic system.
The license to extract iron ore at Sutam deposit is held by Mechel mining and metals company.
“Deposits are usually explored by aircraft. A decision on exploiting a deposit is made depending on the reserves available. In Yakutia, the territory was very problematic. On the one hand, there are swamps. On the other hand, mountainous areas were obstacles for exploring it. The company could not fully explore the territory and hence we were contracted to explore 1,300 square kilometers in two weeks”, Pavel Stepanov says.
Geoscan has flight time of 60 minutes and can cover 15 kilometers at 50 km/hour. During one day of explorations, six to eight flights may be performed and up to 160 kilometers of survey routes reviewed. A UAV performs flight in a fully autonomous regime. It maintains communication with a ground station via a digital communication channel. Copter supplies to a ground station’s monitor entire real time information, such as its coordinates, route, speed, etc. Copters use li-polymer batteries and have maximum payload weight of 2 kilos. A magnetometer is mounted to a copter at a distance of 20 to 30 meters and is capable to detect the magnetic field structure. The data collected by a copter is then supplied to geologists to process. Such copters were also used for exploring lead, zinc and iron deposits in Kazakhstan (Kazzinc), Canada and other countries. At the moment, geological prospecting works at gold fields in Asia are negotiated. Geoscan has explored coal pits for SUEK coal company and gold fields for Polyus Zoloto gold producer.
Geoscan 401 equipped with a magnetometer is priced at about $100K. Usually, customers buy two or three copters. A license to the photoscan program is somewhat RUR 50K ($800), which is less than competitors charge. Geoscan currently has some 40K users of the program worldwide. A satellite can produce images of a greater area but of less precision.
Geoscan and its clients
Geological surveying is not all a copter can do. In 2017 Geoscan produced a digital model of Tula Region ordered by the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (over 20K square kilometers). Mayor’s office of Tomsk ordered a 3D model of the city, and 190K images of the area of 320 square kilometers ensured Tomsk visualization to an approximation of 15 cm. Such products are used for land assets management. In Moscow Geoscan surveyed industrial areas to detect cadastre infractions and improper use of the industrial lands. The works will be continued this year. 3D models were also built for Khabarovsk, Belgorod and other cities.
For Federal Grid Company, Geoscan surveyed the conditions of the powerlines, transmitting up to 70 parameters for each point such as wire slack, number and cubic measurements of trees, probability of power supply failure, etc. For Gazprom, the company detected unauthorized connections to pipelines. For the Russian Railroads, areas where high speed railroad from Moscow to Kazan will be built are being surveyed, since some houses are built within right-of-way and surveying helps stop construction.
Yet, according to Pavel Stepanov, Geoscan is not ready to engage in passenger transportation. He believes that may happen in ten to twenty years, though.
By Natalia Kuznetsova