11 Aug '20
Unmanned geological exploration completed at the Prognoz field in Yakutia. The project has become the largest in the world in terms of the volume of magnetic exploration work performed using drones.
During the field season, the specialists of the Russian group of companies Geoscan managed to carry out a magnetic survey of an area of more than 1250 km². The total length of flight routes of unmanned systems was more than 12,000 km. It was possible to cover such a territory thanks to the precise and well-coordinated work of the UAV operators and the technical equipment of the complexes. Before the start of the work, the survey area was divided into 66 sections, for which more than 1200 flight missions with detailed relief rounding were built in 4 days. During the work, the survey performance indicator was once again beaten: now it is 30 flights and 300 linear kilometers of clean shooting per day (excluding arrivals and departures).
This field was impossible to survey using manned aircraft due to its remoteness from airports and the heterogeneity of the relief. Walking magnetic prospecting would drag on for years. The use of Geoscan 401 unmanned systems with Geoshark suspended magnetometers made it possible, due to flight at ultra-low altitudes with accurate relief, to obtain data in record time. The root-mean-square deviation of the magnetometric data for the project at the level of 1.5 nT suggests a high accuracy of the results.
Earlier, with the help of Geoscan equipment, deposits were surveyed in Russia, the Republic of Kazakhstan and in some foreign countries. The results of using magnetic prospecting using UAVs speak for themselves. For example, at the Sutam iron ore area in Yakutia, about 300 million tons of iron ore with a total value of about 1 trillion rubles were explored.
The recent demonstration of Geoscan complexes at the largest exhibition of mining equipment PDAC in Toronto showed the high potential and demand for the technology around the world.