Virtual Reality and Mining Worlds Converge
Who would have thought that augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) would one day be the future of the mining industry? It is true and what is happening is fascinating. VR is the future of the mining industry, where users wearing VR headsets can get an accurate representation of an area’s geography. This enables them to navigate future facilities and infrastructure and view things that they would not be able to see in person.
B.C.’s Llamazoo Interactive can build mines digitally before ground is ever broken. This Victoria- based company can take data from mining companies and visualize it in 3D; this is just what they did for Teck Resources Ltd. They were able to transform data into a 50-year visualization for a mine plan that did not yet exist. More remarkably, they were able to do this within only one month. The mining and resource sector has vast amounts of underutilized data that they can now apply to such projects. This is where AR and VR will be paradigm-shifting technologies for the mining, forestry and oil and gas sectors.
There are many advantages for these sectors to make use of VR technology. While to date many companies have been using PowerPoint and aerial photos to communicate plans to community stakeholders, technology will enable stakeholders to be there virtually. VR is an alternative to site visits especially when weather and severe conditions are at play. Additionally, companies can reduce site visit travel costs, while accelerating project timelines by up to one full year.
VR recreates traditionally dispersed, complex mine planning data and enables mining companies’ internal and external stakeholders to immerse themselves in the mine plan and interact with it through its entire lifecycle, from exploration to closure. Teck Resources’ Galore Creek project sits on one of the world’s largest under-developed copper and gold deposits. Teck Resources has benefited greatly from this technology through achieving enhanced productivity in their mine and reclamation planning. This technology has also had a positive impact on the Galore Project and despite its remote location, a variety of field programs will be conducted at the site in 2018.
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