Mining Magazine September 2014 | Page 22

Machinery
points within the mission area to aid the spatial corrections applied during software processing . Although we allow a slightly larger tolerance in absolute positions achieved with the UAV , the results still fall within industry accepted standards . Now I am confident we regularly achieve a high quality result .”
Investments in drones The investment for drones is growing . Australia ’ s mining industry alone spends roughly $ 3.7 billion a year on research and development and the ability to operate more efficiently in remote regions where drones aren ’ t likely to be threats to high-density populations is a huge selling point for the technology .
This past year , mining computer tech company Maptek has jumped on the airborne technology , making a significant investment in the start-up DroneMetrex . Although managing director for DroneMetrex wouldn ’ t disclose the exact nature of the investment , he did elaborate on the purchase .
“ We ’ ve built a mapping system from the ground up , everything is designed for the drone from
Drone , midflight
22 S eptember 2014