Advanced mine monitoring system is helping geotechnical engineers predict potentially dangerous pit movements at the largest goldmine in Latin America. Installed at Newmont Mining Corporation’s Minera Yanacocha gold mine in northern Peru, 3D Laser Mapping’s SiteMonitor system continuously monitors one of the six active pits. Using state of the art laser scanners the system can detect relatively miniscule movements in the pit face allowing onsite staff to predict potentially dangerous falls and take measures to prevent damage to equipment or injury to personnel.
3D Laser Mapping’s SiteMonitor system is being used to monitor the north, east and south face of La Quinua Pit at the Yanacocha mine. The system, which is located in a custom built enclosure to provide protection against the heavy rain and thunderstorms prevalent in the region, remotely collects sub-centimetre accurate measurements around the clock. The data is wirelessly transmitted to an onsite central server where surveyors and geotechnical engineers can track movements in the wall to predict where and when a fall may occur.
SiteMonitor is a state of the art, laser-based monitoring system. It uses advanced laser scanning technology with powerful, simple to use software. The data captured by the laser scanner is analysed using 3D Laser Mapping’s SiteMonitor analysis software, to track and compare measurements over time. This provides early warning of movement, and therefore, potential dangerous falls that may impact on the day to day operation of the mine, cause damage to equipment or even injury to personnel operating in the area.
Performance of the SiteMonitor system is also continuously monitored by technicians at 3D Laser Mapping’s global operations centre in the UK. Using the latest web services experienced personnel can remotely access the millions of collected measurements to ensure data consistency and system performance.
Minera Yanacocha is the largest gold mine in Latin America and is commonly accepted as the second largest in the world. With six active open pits production has exceeded 26 million ounces, worth over US$7 billion, since the pit opened in 1993. Yanacocha, meaning ‘dark lake’ in Spanish, is located approximately 30 kilometres north of the city of Cajamarca in the northern highlands of Peru.
