This research is part of the European Union funded Real Time Mining project, which aims to develop a new framework to reduce uncertainties during the extraction process in highly selective underground mining settings. A continuously self-updating resource/grade control model concept is presented and aims to improve the raw material quality control and process efficiency of any type of mining operation. Applications in underground mines include the improved control of different components of the mineralogy and geochemistry of the extracted ore utilizing available “big data” collected during production. The development of the methodology is based on two full scale case study, the copper-zinc mine Neves-Corvo in Portugal and Reiche-Zeche mine in Germany. These serve for both, for the definition of method requirements and also as a basis for defining a Virtual Asset Model (VAM), which serves for artificial sampling as benchmark for performance analysis. This contribution introduces to the updating concept, provides a brief description of the method, explains details of the test cases and demonstrates the value added by an illustrative case study.

Efficient data collection, analysis and preservation are needed to accomplish adequate business decision making. Long-lasting and sustainable business operations, such as mining, add extra requirements to this process: data must be reliably preserved over periods that are longer than that of a typical software life-cycle. These concerns are of special importance for the combined on-line-on-mine-real-time expert system SOLSA (http://www.solsa-mining.eu/) that will produce data not only for immediate industrial utilization, but also for the possible scientific reuse. We thus applied the experience of scientific data publishing to provide efficient, reliable, long term archival data storage. Crystallography, a field covering one of the methods used in the SOLSA expert system, has long traditions of archiving and disseminating crystallographic data. To that end, the Crystallographic Interchange Framework (CIF, [1]) was developed and is maintained by the International Union of Crystallography (IUCr). This framework provides rich means for describing crystal structures and crystallographic experiments in an unambiguous, human- and machine- readable way, in a standard that is independent of the underlying data storage technology. The Crystallography Open Database (COD, [2]) has been successfully using the CIF framework to maintain its open-access crystallographic data collection for over a decade [3,4]. Since the CIF framework is extensible it is possible to use it for other branches of knowledge. The SOLSA system will generate data using different methods of material identification: XRF, XRD, Raman, IR and DRIFT spectroscopy. For XRD, the CIF is usable out-of-the-box, since we can rely on extensive data definition dictionaries (ontologies) developed by the IUCr and the crystallographic community. For spectroscopic techniques such dictionaries, to our best knowledge, do not exist; thus, the SOLSA team is developing CIF dictionaries for spectroscopic techniques to be used in the SOLSA expert system. All dictionaries will be published under liberal license and communities are encourage to join the development, reuse and extend the dictionaries where necessary. These dictionaries will enable access to open data generated by SOLSA by all interested parties. The use of the common CIF framework will ensure smooth data exchange among SOLSA partners and seamless data publication from the SOLSA project.

Short-term mine plans are the key operational basis for ore production targets ranging from shift to weekly or monthly targets. Short-term plans cover detailed operational subprocesses such as development, extraction and backfill schedules as well as materials handling and blending processes. The aim is to make long-term goals feasible by providing a constant plant feed that complies with quality constraints. Short-term mine planning highly depends on the accuracy of the resource model as well as the current production status and equipment fleet. Most of these parameters are characterized by uncertainties due to a lack of information and equipment reliability. At the same time, concentrate production and quality must be kept within acceptable ranges to ensure productivity and economic viability of the operation. Within the EU-funded Real-Time Mining project, the reduction of uncertainty in mine planning is carried by using real-time data. Ore and rock characteristics of active faces and equipment data are iteratively integrated in a simulation-based optimization tool. Therefore, predicted processing plant efficiencies can be met by delivering constant ore grades. Hence, a constant concentrate quality is ensured and long-term targets can be fulfilled. Consequently, a more reliable exploitation plan of the mineral reserve is facilitated.

This paper proposes a system for the ingestion and analysis of real-time sensor and actor data of bulk materials handling plants and machinery. It references issues that concern mining sensor data in cyber physical systems (CPS) as addressed in O’Leary et al. [2015].

Recent development of hyperspectral snapshot cameras offers new possibilities for ore analysis. A method for generating a 3D dataset from RGB and hyperspectral images is presented. By using Structure from Motion, a reference of each source image to the resulting point cloud is kept. This reference is used for projecting hyperspectral data onto the point cloud. Additionally, with this work flow it is possible to add meta data to the point cloud, which was generated from images alone.

In mining operations, the time delay between grade estimations and decision about the scheduling of stopes mining can result in seriously outdated information and, consequently, a substantial mined reserves bias. To mitigate this gap between the grade estimation of an orebody and its exploitation, this paper proposes a new method of speedily updating resources and reserves integrated into the concept of real-time mining. This consists in the continuous and swift update of mine reserves, which requires a continuous and fast stream of the measurements of stopes in an underground mine rather than the chemical lab analysis of core samples or chip/face samples. Here we propose using portable for the swift monitoring of ore grades. However, this “fast” data be highly uncertain. For this reason, the first step consists of creating a bidistribution function between “uncertain” XRF and the corresponding “hard” measurements, based on empirical historical data. Following this, the uncertainty of the XRF measurements is derived from those bi-distributions through the conditional distribution of real values given to the known XRF measurement.The second step involves updating the reserves by integrating this uncertain XRF data, which has been quantified by conditional distributions, in the grade characterization models. For this purpose, a stochastic simulation with point distributions is applied. A case study of a sulphide copper deposit illustrates the proposed methodology.

Am 17. und 18. Mai 2018 fand der 19. Geokinematische Tag der TU Bergakademie Freiberg statt. Im Mittelpunkt der Fachtagung standen Anwendungen von Robotik und virtuelle Realität im Bergbau sowie Geomonitoring und geostatistische Analysen von Lagerstätten und Bergschäden. Auch wurden effiziente Methoden zur flächigen 2D- oder 3D-Datenerfassung, wie Terrestrisches oder Airborne-Laserscanning und auch die Fernerkundung vorgestellt. Ein Höhepunkt war der Vortrag des Projektes UNEXMIN, das neuartig entwickelte Unterwasserroboter vorstellte, die autonom den Zustand von gefluteten Gruben erfassen sollen. Die Vielfalt der Vortragsthemen aus Praxis und Wissenschaft verdeutlichte, dass das Markscheidewesen in allen Stadien der Rohstoffgewinnung wichtige Beiträge leistet: von der Neuaufschließung von Lagerstätten, über die Planung und operative Betriebsführung, bis hin zur Rekultivierung, zur Nachbergbauphase und der Endlagerung

Seit über 500 Jahren wird im Erzgebirge Kalkstein bergmännisch gewonnen. Hat man die Vorkommen erst im Tagebau aufgeschlossen, so werden die Lagerstätten ab dem frühen 20. Jahrhundert im Tiefbau gewonnen. Die Firma GEOMIN betreibt als heutige Eigentümerin an drei Standorten entlang des Erzgebirgskamms Gruben- und Aufbereitungsbetriebe, in denen aus dolomitischem und calcitischem Marmor hochwertige Produkte für die Bauchemie, die Kunststoff-, Beton- und Putzindustrie sowie für die Farben- und Lackindustrie hergestellt werden. Aufgrund der Erschöpfung zwei der drei Lagerstätten konzentriert sich der untertägige Abbau seit dem Jahr 2017 am Standort Hammerunterwiesenthal. Vorgesehen ist für die nächsten 50 Jahre eine Kombination aus übertägigem (Aufschluss im Tagebau) und untertägigem Abbau. In diesem Beitrag soll der Verfahrensweg der Planfeststellung dargestellt und ein Einblick in die anstehenden Aufgaben der Markscheiderei gegeben werden. / For more than 500 years limestone has been mined in the Erzgebirge. In the past the deposits have only been opened up in opencast mines and are being mined underground from the early 20th century. The company GEOMIN, as the current owner, operates mining and processing plants at three locations along the Erzgebirgskamm, where high-quality products are fabricated for the construction chemicals, the plastics, concrete and plaster industries as well as for the paint and coatings industry from dolomitic and calcitic marble. Two of three deposits are exhausted, thus the underground mining has been concentrated at the Hammerunterwiesenthal location since 2017. For the next 50 years, a combination of open pit mining and underground mining is planned. In this article the plan-approval procedure is presented and an insight into the upcoming tasks of the mine surveying team is provided.

Für die photogrammetrische Datenakquise und Auswertung befindet sich seit dem Frühjahr 2017 ein Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) bei der GALA-MIBRAG-Service GmbH im Einsatz. Mit diesem werden kleingliedrige Strukturen, geotechnische Ereignisse und zeitlich begrenzt vorhandene Haufwerke erfasst. Die Integration dieser Messungen in die bestehenden Arbeitsabläufe erfordert in Abhängigkeit der eingesetzten Hard- und Software bestimmte Be- und Verarbeitungen für eine fachgerechte Auswertung. Betrachtet wurden diese Bearbeitungen, in Zusammenhang mit einer Abschätzung der erreichbaren Genauigkeiten, im Rahmen einer Abschlussarbeit (Menge, 2018). Im Zuge dieser Veröffentlichung werden, neben der grundsätzlichen Vorstellung der eingesetzten Hard- und Software, die durchgeführten Untersuchungen bezüglich erreichbarer Genauigkeiten näher beleuchtet. Dies umfasst insbesondere die durchgeführte Kamerakalibrierung. / In spring of 2017 an unmanned aerial vehicle has been acquired by the GALA-MIBRAG-Service GmbH for photogrammetric data acquisition and evaluation. It is used to record small-limbed structures, geotechnical events and temporarily limited heaps. The integration of such measurements into existing processes requires data processing, dependent upon the used evaluation Software. This overall process was considered in connection with an estimation of achievable accuracies in the context of a thesis. In course of this publication, this process will be examined in more detail, with special attention given to the performed camera calibration, and a basic presentation of the used hard- and software with its corresponding peculiarities will be given.

Der Beitrag informiert über Themen und Aktivitäten am Institut für Markscheidewesen und Geodäsie der TU Bergakademie Freiberg im Zeitraum 2017/2018. / This contribution highlights activities and research topics, which form the focus of research, teaching and outreach of the Department of Mine Surveying and Geodesy of the TU Bergakademie Freiberg during the period 2017/2018.