What’s New with Trimble Mining Solutions?

From the job site to the final deliverables, and everywhere in between, Trimble^® Access™ Mines and Trimble Business Center (TBC) softwares offer new and innovative functionality, helping keep mining operations safer and running more efficiently.

Trimble Business Center for Mining Professionals

Surveyors play a crucial role during the entire mining project lifecycle. They require software tailored to streamline their tasks, whether in the field or office. TBC offers a comprehensive suite of tools to optimize workflows for mining surveyors and technicians. From mapping to material volume monitoring, safety reporting and stakeholder deliverables, TBC simplifies every stage of the mining process to boost efficiency.

Overview of the new features in TBC v2024.00 for mining workflows

Survey and construct vertically with confidence

Now, you can conveniently design, inspect and generate reports for vertical shafts in one place. Vertical shafts play a crucial role in underground mining operations by facilitating the removal of extracted materials from the job site. Thorough inspections are essential to ensure that the design meets safety regulations, and our system simplifies the reporting process for managers and stakeholders.

New inspection tools in TBC for mining workflows

Generating underground mine production deliverables faster

TBC's artificial intelligence model for point cloud data enables automatic classification of tunnel point clouds by material type, including rock bolts, shotcrete, rock and rebar mesh. In underground mining environments, comprehensive knowledge of the job site makeup is critical to success. This tool significantly reduces the time required to decipher the mine's composition, empowering engineers to swiftly devise extraction plans and generate reports.

The new automatic tunnel classification tool in TBC

Trimble Access Mines for Underground Mining Surveyors

Underground mining surveyors complete various geospatial services like set-out, collection and volume reports crucial for construction and demolition. With projects changing rapidly, efficient data collection is vital. Trimble Access Mines, designed by surveyors for surveyors, streamlines mining jobs for faster completion.

Helping you move faster underground

The advancements in Trimble Access Mines prioritize acceleration of field workflows, enhancement of functionality through innovative data types and seamless integration of field-to-office cloud processes.

Autostakeout pausing functionality

Now, you can pause the automated stakeout process during your survey. If a surveyor needs to remark a point or take a break, they can do so without having to wait for the sequence to finish.

Pausing functionality during a stakeout

Stakeout tasks in underground mining sites can be physically demanding and mentally taxing, due to the challenging and dangerous environment. Therefore, Access Mines offers automation for the stakeout process. By uploading a design file into the software, a Trimble SX12 scanning total station will sequentially direct a green laser to the selected points, eliminating the need for manual pointing and reducing the time spent underground.

Surface inspection in Access

Now, using an SX12 equipped with Trimble Access, a surveyor can complete scanning procedures, including surface inspections. Complete scans of your job site day-to-day to monitor changes to the job site, or create as-built reports. To learn more about surface inspection workflows, read this blog.

A surface inspection performed in Access

IFC improvement

Trimble Access has been at the forefront of BIM capabilities, enabling the creation and management of digital twin models. This empowers mining operations to utilize detailed models in the field for precise stakeout and verification of mine facilities, plants and processing constructions. To discover more about how mining operations are harnessing the potential of IFC models, read this blog.

New IFC functionality used in Trimble Access

An IFC model used for a mining operation in Chile (courtesy of GeoCom)

Connected workflows

Trimble Access has continuously enhanced its cloud capabilities to establish the smoothest workflow from field data collection to office analysis.

Automatic updates

You can receive files and project updates from the office on-site. When working in a Trimble Connect project and connected to Wi-Fi, a field crew member will be notified when a file has been changed. This allows instant communication from the office and ensures that you are working with the most accurate project data.

 Image showing an automatic update in Trimble Access Mines

Tags & to-dos

Synching and saving data in the cloud also allows users to see and view tasks and tags. This lets managers create and assign tasks to a specific crew member with access to a cloud project, eliminating the possibility of duplicate work and allowing for more detailed assignments.

Tasks assigned in Trimble Connect

Additional resources

If you want to learn more about any of the improvements mentioned or more about Trimble’s mining solutions, visit the Trimble Access and Trimble Business Center YouTube channels.

Along with the functionality highlighted here, there continue to be enhancements to mining-based workflows in Trimble’s software. To keep updated, refer to the Trimble Access Release Notes Portal and Trimble Business Center Resource Page.

For more information about the mining solution portfolio, contact your local Trimble Distributor or visit the Trimble Mining Resources Page.