New technology is optimizing productivity and reducing risk
Cave-based mining is increasing worldwide as a way of extending the life of open pit mines where near-surface ore has been depleted. It allows mining companies to reach large, lower-grade deposits deep underground (typically porphyry-style deposits), achieving high production rates at a fraction of the operating cost and environmental impact of conventional surface mining methods. Block caving, specifically, is a process that involves undermining an ore body and then allowing it to collapse under its own weight. The broken ore then falls into funnels (draw bells) built underneath the caving zone, where it is then extracted.
For all its advantages, the block-caving technique also comes with a set of unique challenges. Once a block cave is initially developed (through drilling in underground tunnels), it propagates upwards in a largely uncontrolled process, and it is not possible to directly observe the void as it evolves over time. Cave miners also encounter stalling of progressive caving and draw bell blockages, alongside challenges in reliably predicting orebody cave-ability, understanding cave propagation, managing ore flow effectively and predictably.
Geological uncertainty drives inefficiency, delays investment, and slows time to market
At a time where a looming multi-trillion-dollar supply gap in critical metals is putting the mining industry in the spotlight, there is immense pressure on mining companies to deliver outputs quickly – with less cost, risk, and environmental impact than ever before. Caving can deliver against these objectives, but the geological uncertainty involved in the process directly impedes that growth and slows time to market.
Operators constantly evaluate and monitor cave propagation, and mitigate geotechnical hazards during the deposit investigation, mine design and planning, and operational stages of the caving process. Current monitoring methods offer point measurements only, leaving operators to interpolate what may be happening between discrete points inside the cave. They have not been able to confidently or accurately delineate the ever-changing parameters of the cave edges, the growing air gap created, and the muck pile forming at the cave bottom. Until now.
Canadian-made mining tech uses natural energy from space
The new technology uses naturally occurring energy from supernova explosions, in the form of subatomic particles called muons, to image deep beneath the Earth’s surface. A subsurface intelligence platform – called REVEAL™ – comprises proprietary data generation; data integration and multi-physics; data science and AI; modelling and analysis tools; and 3D/4D/XR visualization – that helps mining companies map and monitor mineral deposits and other anomalies with precision and confidence.
New to the world this year, the Ideon REVEAL™ for Caving solution allows mining companies to remotely and fully monitor progression of cave propagation for the first time — supporting operational performance and safety, while reducing geological uncertainty in understanding the rock volume surrounding the cave.
By measuring muon activity through detectors positioned in the extraction layer (deep beneath the surface), Ideon determines the average density in the overburden within a wide field of view above each detector. Each detector produces a radiographic (X-ray-like) image of the rock mass above it, and combining these images enables three-dimensional tomographic reconstructions of subsurface density (CAT-scan-like). Subsurface voids like caves stand out clearly because of their density contrast with the surrounding rock. Ongoing imaging of evolving block caves yields a dynamic, high-resolution 4D model that shows how a cave and the surrounding rock evolve over time.
Ideon’s foundational technology – muon tomography – is the only straight-line subsurface imaging technology available today, delivering the highest available resolution along with precise anomaly location information. It uses a passive and free energy source (from space), offers the ability to image in noisy or conductive environments (where other techniques do not), provides insights from depths that other techniques cannot, and captures data continuously – improving imaging results over the course of a survey. This unique data source, combined with advanced processing algorithms and multi-data-set analysis, gives block caving companies a comprehensive set of subsurface intelligence that they’ve never had access to before. It’s a game-changer.