Mining Inspection | Shenzhen Yangda Technology Co., Ltd.

Mining Inspection

The YANGDA mining inspection solutions leverage long-endurance unmanned platforms, high-precision mapping cameras, and responsive transmission & control technologies, delivering efficient and accurate aerial inspection and data services for open-pit & underground mines, tailings storage facility, and quarries.

Mining Inspection

What Mining Inspection We Support

YANGDA provides solutions adaptable to the varying unmanned system requirements of different mine types and geographic environments, supporting practical applications in the following scenarios:

Aerial Mapping & Surveying of Mining Sites

We provide UAV systems compatible with LiDAR and mapping payloads for periodic surface surveys and high-precision terrain data collection. Equipped with robust airframes and long-endurance battery systems, our solutions enable efficient large-area mapping missions with detailed and accurate results.

Processing & Production Supervision

Compatible with UGV platforms, our solutions support multi-payload integration for real-time supervision of mining processing and production. Typical configurations include EO cameras for monitoring mills, conveyors, and equipment conditions, and thermal cameras for detecting overheating motors, bearings, and other critical components.

Open-Pit and Geotechnical Monitoring

Our UAV platforms can be equipped with gimbal cameras, LiDAR systems, and photogrammetry payloads to monitor pit walls, slopes, and benches, helping detect ground movement, deformation, and erosion for enhanced operational safety and planning.

Underground Inspections

For underground mining inspections, our imaging, communication, and data transmission solutions integrate seamlessly with UGV platforms to deliver smart, reliable, and safe operations. With real-time video, data feedback, and remote control capabilities, they reduce personnel exposure to hazards such as rockfalls, ground collapses, and poor air quality.

What Mining Inspection We Support

YANGDA provides solutions adaptable to the varying unmanned system requirements of different mine types and geographic environments, supporting practical applications in the following scenarios:

Aerial Mapping & Surveying of Mining Sites

Processing & Production Supervision

Open-Pit & Geotechnical Monitoring

Underground Inspections

What We Provide

Storm Eye 40IE-HTM50 EO/IR Gimbal Camera

Equipped with a 40x optical zoom visible-light camera and a 50 mm lens thermal imager with up to 1280x1024 resolution. Suitable for spontaneous combustion detection of coal seam, equipment overheating inspection, and night-time security monitoring.

Sky Eye-HT75-M Thermal Imaging Gimbal Camera

Featuring a 1280x1024 thermal resolution and a 75 mm lens, the Sky Eye-HT75-M is purpose-built for fire source detection and high-temperature anomaly inspection. It is capable of detecting a 0.25 m² fire source from an altitude of 300 meters.

Sky Whale Electric VTOL

MTOW 34 kg, endurance up to 3.5 hours (with 2 kg payload), wind resistance up to 13 m/s, IP54 protection. Suitable for full-coverage aerial surveying and inspection of small-scale open-pit mines.

Sky Whale Mini Electric VTOL

MTOW 18 kg, endurance up to 3 hours (with 2 kg payload),high portability with single-operator rapid deployment.Suitable for short-distance pipeline segments, rapidresponse missions, and inspections in complex terrain.

N300 Video & Data Link

Offering a maximum transmission range of up to 300 km with AES-256 encryption, the N300 is designed for beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) operations in large-scale mining areas.

4G/LTE Video Transmission Module

Enables real-time video streaming with virtually unlimited range (dependent on cellular network coverage). Ideal for mining areas with reliable 4G connectivity.

Starlink Satellite Communication Module

Provides global and robust connectivity with real-time HD video transmission. Ensures reliable communications for mining operations in remote mountainous regions and uninhabited areas.

LAUNCH Ground Control Software

A streamlined interface supporting one-click takeoff, mission planning, and real-time UAV telemetry monitoring, designed for efficient frontline pilot operations.

YDLINK Camera Control Software

Enables real-time video preview, gimbal control, target tracking, and target geolocation acquisition and sharing.

ROCK Fold Rugged Ground Station

Designed with waterproof and dustproof body, together with a high-brightness display, the ROCK Fold Ground Station is suitable for mobile command posts or vehicle-mounted deployment in harsh field environments.

XTurbo Smart Battery

12S 33000mAh high-capacity battery featuring SRTH intelligent return-to-home algorithm and up to 800 charge cycles, ensuring sustained multi-flight operations.

Saver-40 Parachute System

Automatically deploys in emergency situations to protect high-value equipment, suitable for high-risk flight operations.

Portable Flight Case

Custom protective case designed for single-person carrying, enabling rapid redeployment and mobile operations.

What We Solve

In mining inspection, surveying, and safety management operations, traditional mining inspection methods often struggle to balance efficiency, accuracy, and safety, bringing the following key challenges:

Threats to Personnel Safety

In traditional mining inspections, personnel are often required to enter hazardous areas, such as post-blasting zones, to conduct real-time inspections. In these environments, safety threats including secondary explosions and rockfalls can occur without warning. Exposure to such hazards may result in serious injury, loss of life, and other irreversible consequences.

Unidentified Fire Sources

Without precise and advanced thermal detection systems, traditional inspection methods often fail to identify early-stage fire sources caused by coal oxidation, fuel spills, equipment overheating, or electrical faults in a timely manner. As a result, fire hazards may escalate into unexpected emergencies, leaving limited time for effective response, risk mitigation, and personnel evacuation.

Lagging Production Schedule

Traditional surveying methods, such as total station and GNSS/RTK surveying, typically require extensive planning, significant manpower, and lengthy data processing. As a result, they often fail to generate up-to-date models that accurately reflect actual site conditions, leading to lagging production schedules and operational downtime.

Untimely Detection of Slope Deformation

For most open-pit mines, landslides frequently occur in areas with high, steep, and extensive slopes, posing serious risks to personnel safety, equipment, and production continuity. By applying unmanned systems equipped with advanced mapping and sensing technologies, operators can quickly capture real-time slope conditions, detect potential deformations, and accordingly implement production adjustments or preventive measures.

Inefficient Volume Calculation

Volume calculations for pit excavation, overburden stripping, and stockpile quantities are frequently required throughout mining operations. However, traditional calculation methods often require significant time and manpower while delivering only approximate results, greatly affecting production planning, operational efficiency, and decision-making.

Experience-Driven Management

When managing large-scale mining sites and complex operations, relying solely on experience-driven decisions may lead to misjudgments, resulting in unnecessary time and cost losses. With unmanned inspection solutions, production progress and mining conditions can be continuously monitored, recorded, and analyzed, providing accurate data support for smarter decision-making and more efficient production management.

Why We Excel

Versatile Payload Integration

For aerial inspection, we provide robust UAV airframes with advanced payload integration capabilities, supporting various external payloads such as LiDAR, gimbal cameras, mapping modules, and other surveying sensors. Designed to support diverse inspection missions throughout the mining production cycle, our UAV platforms enable flexible payload combinations, reducing the cost of deploying multiple inspection systems while delivering long-term operational value and ROI.

Long-Endurance, Wide-Area Coverage

Built on the Sky Whale series VTOL drones, YANGDA provides UAV system with up to 10 hours of flight endurance carrying payloads onboard, making it well suited for large-scale inspection and surveying in mining areas. Compared with manual foot patrols, it significantly improves coverage efficiency; compared with conventional multirotor platforms, it reduces the frequency of takeoffs, landings, and battery swaps, making them better suited for mining applications involving large coverage, high intensity, and frequent operations.

Thermal Imaging Fire Source Detection

For open-pit coal mines, waste rock dumps, and other areas with thermal anomaly risks, our solutions can be equipped with a mining-dedicated gimbal payload integrating a 1280×1024 UHD thermal camera and a 5 km laser rangefinder. This enables routine aerial inspections to rapidly detect and accurately locate abnormal heat sources and potential hidden fire hazards, and supports faster fire warning, targeted area verification, and timely on-site response, providing reliable data support for proactive safety management.

Real-Time Production Monitoring

Through the integration of unmanned platforms and advanced gimbal cameras, our solutions enable real-time monitoring across the entire mining production process, including blasting operations, aggregate hauling progress, and material processing activities. With comprehensive visibility into mining operations, operators can achieve more scientific supervision, improve situational awareness, and more informed decisions.

More Rapid and Informed Emergency Response

Considering the vast coverage of mining areas, establishing efficient emergency response procedures is essential for handling incidents such as coal fires, equipment failures, and natural disasters. YANGDA inspection solutions integrate stable imaging systems and robust communication capabilities, supporting reliable RF, 4G/LTE, and satellite communication with transmission ranges of up to 300 km. Through real-time data sharing, response teams can access live video and telemetry information, enabling more coordinated, rapid, and efficient emergency operations.

Optimized Engineering for Harsh Environments

Mining operations are often exposed to complex working conditions such as high dust levels, high underground temperatures, and strong corrosion. To address these typical scenarios, YANGDA provides targeted optimized engineering for our inspection systems, as listed below, to enhance platform stability and reliability in harsh environments.

Anti-Dust Capability

With IP54-rated motors and airframe, along with IP66-rated cameras, YANGDA UAVs are built for dusty open-pit mining environments, enabling reliable aerial inspections throughout the mining production process.

Light Rain Resistance

Equipped with 20% increased motor power reserve and battery preheating function, YANGDA systems enable stable flight even at 4500 m altitude.

Wide Operating Temperature

We provide inspection solutions equipped with products featuring a wide operating temperature range from -10°C to 50°C, enabling reliable performance in both high-temperature underground mining environments and cold-weather open-pit mining regions.

How to Get Customized Mining Inspection Solutions

YANGDA provides full-process services customized to different terrain conditions, extraction methods, observation priorities, and customer’s specific operational needs, with a streamlined but professional workflow as follows:

step 1

Requirement Assessment

YANGDA engineers conduct on-site inspections of the mining environment, existing inspection methods, communication conditions, and personnel capabilities, and then deliver a detailed assessment report.

step 2

Solution Design

Based on the assessment results, YANGDA delivers a "Mining Inspection UAV System Configuration Proposal," including equipment selection, flight path planning, and budget estimation.

step 3

Prototype Validation

A prototype is deployed for test flights in the target mining area to collect real-world data and verify detection performance and system reliability.

step 4

Delivery and Installment

YANGDA provides intuitive services after order delivery, including on-site installation and operation guidance, to ensure that client can quickly establish operational inspection capabilities.

step 5

Ongoing Support

7x24-hour remote technical support is provided, with field engineers stationed in key markets and rapid spare parts supply to ensure continuous operational reliability.

Contact Sales

Compliance & Safety Assurance

Export Control Compliance

YANGDA VTOL fixed-wing drones are subject to national export control regulations. All exports must obtain the Military Export License or Dual-Use Item Export License in accordance with applicable laws. We assist customers in providing the required technical documentation to ensure every transaction is fully legal and compliant.

Data Security Protection

Video transmission and ground station communications are protected with AES256 encryption, with dynamically updated encryption keys. The AI analytic platform can be deployed within the customer’s internal network and physically isolated from external networks, ensuring that pipeline data is not leaked or exposed to the outside network.

Airspace Management Compliance

The UAV supports geofencing functionality, allowing pre-defined no-fly zones to prevent accidental entry into sensitive areas. The ground control station software can be integrated with national UAV regulatory platforms, meeting airspace authorization and flight declaration requirements in certain countries.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can I operate YANGDA drones normally in high-dust environments?

Yes. YANGDA has carried out dedicated engineering optimization for high-dust mining conditions. The motors and airframe feature IP54 protection, while the camera module is rated IP66. The system can operate continuously for 2 hours in environments with PM10 concentrations exceeding 1000 μg/m³ without stalling. Regular maintenance is recommended to extend overall system lifespan.

Q: What level of accuracy can the 3D model achieve?

At a flight altitude of 100–150 meters, the 3D model can achieve a resolution of up to 10 cm. The final accuracy depends on factors such as flight altitude, camera parameters, and ground control point density. The operation plan can be adjusted based on the customer’s required level of precision.

Q: Can slope displacement be monitored and automatically alerted?

Yes. By comparing multi-temporal 3D models, the system can accurately calculate slope displacement and deformation rates. Users can set displacement thresholds in the data management platform, and once exceeded, the system will automatically send alerts to designated personnel.

Q: How accurate is earthwork volume calculation compared with traditional methods?

With properly deployed ground control points, earthwork volume calculations can achieve over 95% accuracy. Compared with traditional total station point-based surveying, the error range is comparable, while measurement efficiency is improved by 10x with the data traceable, verifiable, and can be used to generate visualized reports.

Q: Can thermal imaging identify hidden underground fire sources?

Yes. The thermal imaging gimbal can detect temperature anomalies on the surface and in shallow subsurface areas.
Taking the Sky Eye-HT75-M as an example:
At an altitude of 100–300 m, it can detect a 0.25 m² fire source, suitable for verifying small concealed heat sources.
At 120–420 m, it can detect a 0.5 m² fire source, suitable for identifying abnormal temperature rises in coal seams.
At 150–600 m, it can detect a 1 m² fire source, suitable for heat source inspection in waste dumps and large-scale thermal anomalies.
In addition, the thermal camera is integrated with a long-range laser targeting module, enabling precise geolocation of heat sources and providing accurate coordinates for firefighting drilling operations.

Q: Is the product export compliant with regulations?

YANGDA fixed-wing VTOL drones fall under national export control regulations and require the appropriate export permits. We can provide the necessary technical documents and product information for customers to ensure compliance.

Q: Can the data management platform be deployed on local servers?

Yes. YANGDA's data management platform supports on-premise deployment. All mining data is stored on the customer's own servers and can be physically isolated from external networks, ensuring data security and preventing any data leakage.