Deformation monitoring technology can be used to measure movement, vibration and/or tilt in a range of mining applications. These include pit walls, tailings dams, underground tunnels, infrastructure such as conveyor belts and any other hazardous or critical assets.

In a large Australian coal mine, a significant crack developed in one of the main walls of the pit. Finding a robust platform that could reliably measure any deviation in the wall and alert management immediately, was critical to mitigate safety and production risk.

Traditional optical monitoring techniques utilising a total station could be used in these scenarios. Although accurate, the manual operation of such an instrument would not generate the frequency of data required and increase the level of risk by requiring its manual operation. An autonomous optical solution would mitigate this but with a greater footprint of infrastructure and cost.

Wireless, autonomous monitoring

In this scenario, the Senceive wireless monitoring solution was established on site to provide constant, autonomous reporting to mine management and operations teams.

Three optical displacement and triaxial tilt sensors were setup along the crest of the pit wall in the area surrounding the wall cracks. These small cube-shaped sensors include an integrated EDM that was programmed to shoot measurements every 10 minutes. The measurements show any expansion or contraction of the cracks in the pit wall.

Measurement recordings are relayed back to the office via a wireless, solar-powered ‘gateway’ on site. Due to the critical nature of the reporting required, Senceive’s Oceania distributor Aptella, modified the gateway settings to send measurement data more frequently and with minimal latency. 

With continuous adjustment of the alerts, mine management and operations are able to stay informed of even the slighted movement or change to the fissures in the pit wall. The following charts demonstrate the thresholds in relative displacement on each of the three sensors: