Susana Rodriguez Romero.Head of Geotechnics and Topography at Atalaya Mining Ignacio Marzán, CSIC David Martí, Lithica SCCLAt Atalaya Mining - Riotinto Project we are carrying out an innovative digital transition towards comprehensive geodetic and geotechnical control of the Riotinto mining environment.Our R&D project 'Minerva # Smartgeocontrol' aims to create a multidisciplinary surveillance and interpretation platform that, in real time, centralizes the observations obtained with classic and cutting-edge monitoring techniques.The project takes its name from the Roman deity that symbolizes wisdom and knowledge.In mythology, Minerva is the one who designs the ship of the Argonauts and guides them by placing the wood that she speaks on its prow;she cut near the oracle of Dodona, she will direct her course and inform them of the dangers that lie in wait and how to avoid them.The project initially focuses on the waste deposits of the Riotinto mine.Later we will extend the study to other structures that require geotechnical control.The platform will integrate classic geodetic and geotechnical monitoring techniques in real time with innovative satellite, passive seismic and artificial intelligence (AI) techniques.The project is divided into three phasesStudy of the potential of three innovative monitoring techniques for stability control in mining environments:Calibration and validation of the results using other classical techniques and field experience.Leica Geosystems SL will be responsible for the integration of multidisciplinary data in an innovative platform called Hexagon GeoMonitoring Hub.Hexagon GeoMonitoring Hub is a newly created web platform designed from the ground up to integrate data from different sensors.This platform is not yet implemented in any mine in Europe.It is currently prepared for the integration of data from geodetic sensors (total stations and GNSS sensors), geotechnical sensors (piezometers, inclinometers, gauges, etc.), environmental sensors, and remote sensors such as GB-SAR (terrestrial radar).The different data sources are connected to the platform and are displayed in real time on a georeferenced background.It allows in a very intuitive way to interact with all the sensors that are observing the mine.The status of each sensor, its current record and its alert level are shown in a side area, and interactive graphics and updated reports can be generated.Many sensors are complementary and observe different properties of the same phenomenon, or the same property at different scales, therefore, the joint representation improves their interpretability.For example, during a rainy period, the meteorological data, the change in piezometric values ​​and variations in the mechanical properties of the subsoil provided by the seismic stations could be observed together.In the following diagram we can see the different data sources that the platform will manage and its workflow.A highlight of the Minerva project is the collaboration with the CSIC to investigate the potential of innovative monitoring technologies, such as passive seismic and satellite interferometry, and their integration into the platform.The main objective of this collaboration is the transfer of these technologies, with great potential but little used due to their complexity of use, to an end user level.Currently, there are four GNSS devices installed in the mine that autonomously and in real time are measuring and calculating their position with respect to a stable geodetic point.The automated processing of the GNSS stations is carried out by the Leica GNSS Spider software, which receives the data from the sensors in real time and calculates its daily position with millimeter precision.Measurements are stored in a Leica GeoMoS software database.On the other hand, the geodetic control is completed with Total Station measurements in a series of prisms distributed throughout the mine.At the moment, these observations and their integration into the Leica GeoMoS system are done manually, but in a few months the process will be automated, providing the equipment with a fixed position, continuous power supply and a communications system.The Leica GeoMoS system will be in charge of carrying out the measurement sessions, the coordinate calculations of the prisms and their transfer to the platform's joint database (Fig.3).Geodetic observations made from the ground are very precise but punctual.Through our collaboration with the CSIC we intend to improve the geodetic coverage of the entire mining environment using the InSAR technique with images from the Sentinel-1 radar satellite of the Copernicus program (CE-ESA).The data from external sensors, piezometers (open and closed) and inclinometers, whose reading and integration into the platform through the Leica GeoMoS software is currently manual, will become automated as an essential part of the digital transition that is taking place in Atalaya Mining (Fig.3).In addition to these 'classic' sensors, we are deploying a terrestrial radar system (GB-SAR) to control terrain deformation.The IDS ARC-SAR system is made up of a geodesically positioned radar sensor, a data manager (IDS Controller) and processing software (IDS Guardian).Through this system, ground movements can be observed on a millimeter scale that are projected on a matrix of georeferenced pixels.The IDS Guardian software will also be in charge of uploading the GB-SAR data to the platform in the appropriate format for interpretation.In addition to the techniques mentioned, we will investigate how to integrate into the surveillance system innovative techniques already developed or in the development phase that are not usually used in geodetic and geotechnical control due to their complexity of use.We will carry out these investigations in collaboration with Saytel and the CSIC.The objective of the collaboration with Saytel is to evaluate and validate a system that we call AI Surveillance, which consists of real-time monitoring of the state of the sterile deposits using video analytics.This is how they control:The collaboration with the CSIC has 2 main objectives: 1) to evaluate and validate the potential of the Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellite for continuous monitoring of deformation using the InSAR technique, and 2) to evaluate and validate passive seismic to monitor variations in the parameters underground mechanics.In addition, the best way to provide easily interpretable results adapted to the surveillance platform will be investigated.InSAR monitoring, (Interferometry of 'Synthetic Aperture Radar')Satellite interferometry is based on the correlation of radar images taken at different times to detect phase variations that could be associated with deformations in the relief of the earth's surface.Since variations on the wavelength scale are measured, in theory, ground deformations can be measured with millimeter precision.However, there are other factors that intervene in the equation such as the atmospheric contribution, parallax, orbital errors, etc., which complicate the processing and have to be corrected to exploit this technique to its maximum potential.The putting into orbit of the European satellite Sentinel-1 of the Copernicus program (CE-ESA) in 2014 was a real revolution.Sentinel-1 provides high-quality images of any point on the planet with a frequency of up to 6 days in some regions.In addition, access to images is free, whether they are new or from the catalogue, and for both academic and commercial projects.Although due to its global nature it is a medium resolution satellite, Sentinel-1 has made the InSAR technique fashionable in the civil engineering sector.However, there are still challenges to overcome to normalize its use, fundamentally due to the large volume of data to be handled and the complexity of its processing, which requires powerful servers and a high degree of specialization.The main advantages provided by Sentinel-1 are:Figure 6. Deformation map of the Riotinto mine using Sentinel-1, InTarsis project.Each dot represents a strain rate measurement in mm/year.When selecting a point, a graph is displayed with the accumulated displacement, in this case in a known unstable area of ​​short Atalaya between May 2015 and June 2021. In flooded, heavily vegetated or transformation areas, coverage is lost.CSIC source.Passive seismic monitoringPassive seismic monitoring focuses on detecting variations in continuous recording patterns at seismic stations that could indicate changes in the underground environment.In recent years, its use has been extended to the monitoring of singular infrastructures (dams, buildings, nuclear power plants) or activities that may affect the integrity of the subsoil (gas injections, fracking, excavations,...).In the project we intend to deploy a network of new generation seismometers, type MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems), with two objectives: a) control of microseismicity and b) monitoring of the subsoil through ambient noise interferometry (ANI).In the same seismic record, apart from the big events, we have microseisms and environmental noise, which is characteristic of each zone and that we can use to monitor.Human interaction with the subsoil can produce changes in the stress regime and induce microseisms, which are too small to be perceived by the population and are usually negative in magnitude.It is important to identify and locate this microseismicity since it can indicate areas of weakness in the subsoil.In gas injection, magnitude 0.5 is usually considered as the alert threshold.Currently, many unique constructions, such as nuclear power plants or dams, are equipped with seismometers as a safety measure.Figure 8. Magnitude vs occurrence of earthquakes in the world.Human interaction with the subsurface can induce seismicity that is generally imperceptible.In gas injection, magnitude 0.5 is usually considered as the alert threshold.b) ANI ambient noise interferometrySeismic noise correlation techniques consist of comparing the daily record of the stations with their reference signal in order to detect variations that could indicate mechanical changes in the subsoil.The reference signal is obtained by stacking a register long enough to obtain a consistent response from the medium (its signature).By comparing the daily records with the reference signal we can obtain similarity maps.If the noise remains invariant, if we observe areas of loss of similarity, we will know that the medium is changing there.These variations can be temporary, climatic or aquifer levels, or permanent, such as alterations in the mechanics of the environment.This method is very sensitive to small variations and can detect subsurface instabilities before they have surface expression.Figure 9. The graph is an example of the loss of similarity recorded at a Riotinto test-station related to a rain episode.Once the rain stops, the similarity is recovered.Below, seismic records on days of high and low similarity.The medium characteristic reference signal for that station is shown in red.CSIC source.Atalaya Mining's 'Minerva #Smartgeocontrol' innovation project is a step towards the digital transition of the Riotinto mine and an additional guarantee of safety and sustainability in our mining activity.Its main objective is to create a multidisciplinary surveillance and interpretation platform that centralizes the observations of the geodetic and geotechnical sensors that monitor the mine.In addition to the control elements already in operation, Atalaya Mining has established collaboration agreements with Saytel and the CSIC to investigate the integration of innovative monitoring techniques such as AI Surveillance, passive seismic and satellite interferometry into the platform.Emulating her mythological archetype, Minerva will monitor the mine in real time from space, ground and underground, and will anticipate potential contingencies.The comments are the opinion of the users and not that of the portal.Insulting, racist or contrary to current laws are not allowed.Comments that are not related to the news/article, or that do not comply with the Legal Notice and the Data Protection Policy, will not be published.Legal Warnings and Basic Information on Personal Data Protection: Responsible for the Processing of your Personal Data: Interempresas Media, SLU Purposes: Manage contact with you. 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