Forge - June 2009

I-Site 4400LR Advantages Range up to 700 metres Software tools for auto-registration and backsighting Built-in compensator for levelling Rapid registration of multiple setups for efficient large area coverage 37 megapixel panoramic imagery Ideal for survey of difficult areas The I-Site System allows data capture and generation of concrete results in just a few days, in this case under extreme conditions of high altitude and low temperature.

Safe survey solutions for Mantos de Oro

Mantos de Oro commenced development of several mineral deposits in the high mountain ranges in the north of Chile in the 1980s; La Coipa being of major importance. It is now one of the Canadian-based Kinross Gold Corporation projects which spread over North and South America and Russia.

La Coipa mine is located in the Maricunga mining belt at an altitude of 4000 metres, 140 km northeast of the city of Copiapó and 940 km to the north of Santiago.

Mine management, through their Engineering department, requested Maptek to survey the Coipa Norte pit, in order to validate the topography of abandoned sectors with difficult access.

A consultancy project began in May 2009 to conduct 3D surveying of the principal gold and silver pit of La Coipa, using the Maptek I-Site™ 4400LR laser scanning system.

The speed of data acquisition allowed scanning not only of the Coipa Norte pit as requested, but also another 2 pits known as Ladera Farellón and Purén, all within 1 day of scanning.

A total area of 178.5 hectares was covered. Scanning was rapid and safe. From a remote stand-off point, it was possible to capture inaccessible areas inside the pit. A highly detailed model was generated, preserving the exact geometry of wedges, slopes and landslides; accurate volumes were then calculated.

The digital survey models can also be used in geotechnical applications, including the evaluation of designs versus reality, obtaining the angle of real and apparent slopes, and toes and crests.
Simultaneous high resolution digital photographs are captured by the I-Site 4400LR scanner. This information can be displayed in I-Site Studio software for realistic, high resolution 3D viewing.

The versatility of the I-Site system allows data capture and generation of concrete results in just a few days of work. In this case, the system also had to operate under extreme conditions of high altitude and low temperature.

Thanks to
Guillermo Olivares
Chief Engineer, Short Term Planning
Mantos de Oro

Panorama and scans of La Coipa deposit in northern Chile provide accurate data for topographic modelling and analysis