REVEAL™

for Caving

4D monitoring of the cave back, muck pile, air gap, and surrounding rock to support operational performance and safety.

Let’s connect

Understand full cave behaviour to inform cave management strategy with increased confidence.

Identify early indicators of geotechnical instability, proactively mitigating risks to safety.

Dynamically manage draw control to maintain cave balance and production forecasting.

Create visibility. Drive productivity. Safer.

Upcoming workshop

August 14, 2026 / Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Unprecedented Subsurface Visibility for Safer, Smarter Cave Mining Using Muon Tomography

Register now

Gain an unmatched understanding of the full cave environment, unlocking economic value across your operations, safely.

Cave back confidence

  • Track cave propagation with increased confidence to inform cave management strategy.
  • Improve production forecasting based on knowing the cave position relative to the ore body.
  • Identify early indicators of geotechnical instability.

Muck pile intelligence

  • Dynamically manage draw control to maintain cave balance and production forecasting.
  • Target draw strategy to maximize ore recovery and reduce dilution.
  • Identify geotechnically unstable zones to mitigate risks and proactively reduce downtime.

Air gap identification

  • Proactively identify threats to safety caused by subsurface voids.
  • Quantify the risk of an air blast and take corrective action.
  • Enhance subsidence predictability to inform modelling and production plans.
  • “We’re getting actionable data that directly informs our cave management and life-of-mine plans. We’re no longer debating the cave’s shape and location, if it’s a conservative or optimistic projection, and if we could be wrong.
    Having a complete cave shape that we have confidence in takes us a big step forward towards our forecasting expectations.”
    Sarah Webster
    Senior Geotechnical Engineer – Caving
  • “Northparkes experienced an air blast in 1999. We can’t change history, but we can embrace technology lik Ideon’s to prevent repeats of the past.
    Knowing the cave back locaiton, the muck pile, the height and volume of the air gap, and the rate of cave propagation is critical information to inform strong safety standards.”
    Rob Cunningham
    General Manager, Northparkes Operations

Case studies in caving

A remote, high-resolution monitoring solution reducing geotechnical uncertainty across the full cave environment.

Ideon REVEAL™ for Caving is a 4D cave monitoring solution delivering full imaging of the cave back, muck pile, and air gaps on a regular cadence. It comprises proprietary hardware (that delivers a new-to-the-world data source) ruggedized for the most demanding of noisy in-mine environments, software, integrated imaging systems, and advanced data analysis and interpretation.

We also offer patented multi-sensor fusion capabilities enable seamless data collection and integration from our proprietary sensors and third-party data. AI-powered workflow transforms the geological model into a high-resolution dynamic Earth model to inform ongoing cave operations. 

Reduce drilling by 80% 

Image the caving environment with Ideon muon detectors positioned in-mine, under or around the caving zone.

Reduce geotechnical risk by 90% 

Remotely monitor how the cave is progressing, and how it impacts the surrounding rock volume.

Unlock millions in value

High-resolution 4D imaging enables agile, tactical decision-making across operations and risk management, getting product to market faster and safely.

See how Evolution Mining is leveraging REVEAL™ for Caving

High-resolution imaging of the cave back, muck pile, and adjacent geological structures, with monthly monitoring updates.

Case study

In the caving method, mining involves breaking most or all of the ore body. Block caving, in particular, is a method of mining large, lower-grade mineral deposits that can achieve results at one-tenth of the cost and environmental impact than conventional mining methods, while delivering high daily production rates and yielding reductions in surface waste and environmental impact. The process involves undermining an ore body and then allowing it to collapse under its own weight. The benefits of block caving include lower cost, high daily production rates with no backfilling costs, and large reduction in surface waste and environmental impact. The drawbacks include stalling of progressive caving, blockages, reliably predicting orebody cave-ability, understanding cave propagation, and managing ore flow.

Geological uncertainty in the cave environment increases risk, prevents access, forces delays.

Due to the nature of the method, once a 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. Mining companies 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 methods offer point measurements only, leaving operators to interpolate what may be happening between discrete points inside the cave. They cannot 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. This uncertainty impedes growth and slows time to market. With no way to address it, mining companies have accepted immense business risk to get critical metals to market quickly.