April 9, 2018 - This week, specialists in mining, civil engineering, geomechanics, geology, hydrogeology and geophysics will come together in Seville, at Slope Stability 2018, to explore new techniques for improving open pit mine stability.

Maptek has shipped the latest mobile monitoring system some 17,000 km from its Adelaide manufacturing base to showcase at Slope Stability from 10-12 April.

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We caught up with James Howarth, Maptek Mine Measurement Product Manager, ahead of the event.

‘We’re really excited to be taking part in Slope Stability’, said Howarth. ‘At its heart, the conference is tackling an issue, slope stability, which has a real impact on risk and hence safety in open pit mines. The better our understanding of slope stability, the better placed we are to improve safety to mining personnel, the environment and mining equipment.’

‘Mine safety is hugely important to Maptek. It’s an area where we invest significant R&D, specifically on our range of 3D laser scanners, our geotechnical analysis software and in recent years, Sentry surface monitoring system.’

‘We’re really keen to be a part of the conversation on slope stability, or ground movement monitoring, helping attendees grasp how effective our technology is and how it can help them to monitor, analyse and keep ahead of geotechnical risk.’

‘Sentry is different from many other monitoring systems in that it uses LIDAR data. And we’re receiving great feedback from our customers. Their geotech and survey teams are telling us that Sentry gives them a level of flexibility they simply haven’t had before, along with rapid and simple access to in-depth geotechnical insights.’

‘Many monitoring systems are fixed or simply not inherently mobile’, added Howarth. ‘The beauty of Sentry is that yes, it is fully designed for permanent monitoring, but it can also be moved around the mine with ease. Which means you can react to changes in your mine and quickly begin monitoring them.’

‘Equally, if you’re performing weekly, or monthly monitoring, the laser scanner can be detached between monitoring sessions to perform routine survey tasks, such as volumetrics or reconciliation. It’s such a versatile system and we think a lot of mining companies will be pretty excited to learn more about it at Slope Stability.’

A group of survey and monitoring SMEs from Maptek global regions will be on hand at Slope Stability.

‘We’ll be joined by Bruce Hutchinson, Senior Geotechnical Engineer from Hillgrove Resources who has been a valued industry expert in testing and helping refine Sentry since before we launched it in 2013. Bruce has performed geotechnical mapping and ground movement monitoring using Sentry and our laser scanners at the Kanmantoo Copper Mine during that time. He’ll be delivering a workshop and a talk on his experiences, including results during particular failures, during the conference.’ 

We’ll also be conducting a workshop on Thursday April 12 at 15:00 on exploiting the benefits of the LIDAR approach. LIDAR technology is relatively new to the area of geotechnical monitoring and I’d recommend anyone attending Slope Stability to come along to our talks to learn more.

Visit Maptek at Booths 38-39 and see the Maptek Sentry system in the outdoor display area.

Hear Bruce Hutchison speak about “Managing brittle rock movements at the Kanmantoo Copper Mine” on Wednesday, April 11 in Session 2 of the Pit Slope Monitoring and Processing of Geotechnical Data stream in Rooms 3 and 4.

More information on Maptek activities at Slope Stability

About Maptek

Maptek^™ is a global provider of innovative software, hardware and services. Founded almost 40 years ago to service the mining industry, Maptek offers a unique combination of domain knowledge, technical expertise and engineering resources. We incorporate automated workflows and optimised algorithms to collect, analyse and circulate critical information within the operational cycle, closing the loop between planning, production and results. We develop reliable solutions that allow customers to improve safety, productivity and profitability.