How Trimble mining solutions connect and elevate workflows for mining professionals

Introducing a new mining subscription for Trimble^® Business Center (TBC) office software, bringing functionality for above-ground and underground mining survey, construction and geotechnical operations. This will be released with TBC v2024.10, providing a foundation for future mining and quarrying functionality within TBC.

TBC mining gives mine surveying professionals a single office software to perform all data processing, management and delivery tasks for a mining production environment. This new subscription also reduces the time spent to deliver, eliminates the cost of maintaining multiple software solutions and empowers additional geotechnical and geology stakeholders with rich geospatial data.

• Reduce training and software costs: Centralize all mine surveying data processing and reporting in one place. Mining fit-for-purpose workflows in the context of the TBC mining platform. Customers can also share data between TBC mining and third-party enterprise mining software packages.
  

• Increase productivity and reduce delivery times: Automate workflows in open pit volumetrics and slope conformance by automatically extracting breaklines from mine point cloud data sets coming from drones, laser scanners and mobile mapping systems.

• Add value to your data for all stakeholders on site: Much of the data collected on a mine site is wasted. TBC mining introduces new tools that optimize the insights you can derive from surveying data including removing noise and reporting with accuracy.

Open-pit mining workflows in TBC

Design conformance

One of the ways to maximize value as a mine surveyor is to provide reports, data and observations on where as-builts are not conforming to the design. TBC mining will enable mine surveyors to assist in shovel completion for final limits, and areas of concern for overdig and underdig, as well as provide various mine stakeholders with the data and reports that may concern their work area:

• Import and visualize data from terrestrial, mobile and drone-based imagery and point clouds

• Use TBC mining to process, clean and compare design versus extracted from a variety of data sources

• Provide reporting on shovel final conformance, areas of overdig and underdig, as well as in-pit volumetrics

Mine slope conformance

Mine surveyors play a key role in ensuring an open-pit operation's slopes are healthy and per design. Using TBC mining, you can create a slope conformance report that will produce a heat map and report on whether different slope regions are in or out of tolerance according to design parameters. This report can be given to mine stakeholders to then be used for repair, clean up or identify areas of improvement:

• Import and visualize data from terrestrial, mobile, and drone-based imagery and point clouds
  

• Automatically extract breaklines of the pit toes and crests for open-pit slopes
  

• Create a slope conformance report for stakeholders and auditors
  

Mine haul road analysis

Haul truck tires are one of the highest operating expenses and are potential safety issues for mining operations due to potholes, uneven roads, steep grades and sharp turns on roads. Using TBC mining, you can capture, classify and determine where areas of improvement are needed in the operation to save costs on tire wear and tear:

• Import and visualize data from terrestrial, mobile and drone-based imagery and point clouds
  

• Process the data in TBC, evaluate it compared to design, and turn it into a cut/fill map deliverable on road quality
  

• Send data to road grade control for tactical grading in Trimble Earthworks

TBC mining mine haul road analysis workflow

Stockpile volumetrics

Stockpile volumetrics are needed to properly assess the amount of inventory stored or used in a given period. Stockpile management is used to blend material for processing or compensate for lack of material due to trucking or maintenance delays:

• Import and visualize data from terrestrial, mobile, and drone-based imagery and point clouds
  

• Automatically extract and create volume reports for stockpile management

TBC mining stockpile volumetrics workflow

Underground mining workflows in TBC

Vertical shaft construction

Vertical shaft construction is critical in underground mining. It serves as a lifeline for access, ventilation and material transport. For mine surveyors, precision in vertical alignment is essential to ensure the shaft adheres to design specifications, which impacts safety, stability and operational efficiency. 

TBC is invaluable due to its capability to accurately integrate survey and scan data from various surveying sensors. These features enable surveyors to accurately set out positions for shafts and measure progress. This reduces the risk of costly deviations or structural failures. 

With TBC’s robust data management and reporting capabilities, you can ensure that shaft construction progresses smoothly and that any misalignments are corrected promptly. The inspection reports can also be shared with relevant project stakeholders.

3D visualization of extraction progress

3D visualization is indispensable for underground mine surveyors, as it provides a comprehensive view of complex underground structures, helping detect deviations from design and potential hazards. 

TBC's advanced 3D capabilities allow surveyors to visualize underground features, such as tunnels, stopes and shafts with precision. This clear, detailed visualization aids in comparing as-built data with design models, ensuring that excavation stays aligned with project plans. 

TBC mining helps you generate insightful, visually rich reports that improve communication among project stakeholders and facilitate better decision-making. By supporting multiple data formats, including point clouds, CAD and GIS data, TBC provides an integrated platform for managing and analyzing all survey data. This makes it a powerful tool for delivering high-quality 3D analysis and reporting.

Underground heading and decline construction verification

Accurate verification and control of headings and declines are crucial to ensure underground drives and tunnels are constructed to the correct alignment and dimensions. For tunnel and mine surveyors, regular measurements are essential to prevent misalignment and over-excavation. 

In underground mining, overbreak can lead to costly ore dilution and structural instability. TBC mining offers exceptional support for this process with tools designed for precise alignment and excavation and construction control. 

Tunnel inspection tools enable accurate data analysis, and verification of conformance/non-conformance to design. Inspection reports from the analysis allow surveyors to document progress and share critical data with stakeholders.

New underground enhancements in Trimble Access Mines

Trimble Access™ field software for underground mines \enhances productivity for underground mine surveyors by streamlining stakeout and topographic measuremen.. In v2024.10, Access has been enhanced to address common challenges in blast hole stakeout by simplifying the selection process and providing greater control of measurement.

The blast hole definitions list now appears alongside the map. This enhancement allows surveyors to see selected points directly on the map and provides a clear visual representation of their work. Any changes made to the list, their order or blast hole direction are immediately reflected on the map. This helps surveyors quickly visualize the impact of their adjustments and improve overall accuracy.

Surveyors can manually reorder points by tapping and dragging up or down the list. This functionality simplifies the process of organizing points according to the desired sequence. Redundant points from the list can also be removed with ease.

By pressing "ctrl" to select multiple points at once, then tapping "Remove," you can efficiently clean up the blast hole list. For bulk deletions, the "Remove above" or "Remove below" option gives a quick solution for large datasets.

More details and information

For more information on this release, you can refer to the Release notes available from the Help portal.

Sign up for our webinar to hear the Trimble mining product team run through the benefits of the new TBC mining subscription, and if you cannot make it, a copy of the recorded webinar will be sent to you.

Ready to try TBC mining software today? Sign up for a trial download or contact your local Trimble authorized distributor.