Remote Sensing

REMOTE SENSING

Mining companies can now monitor mining waste sites and tailings ponds in considerably more detail from, of all places, Earth orbit.

Using thematic mapping (TM) data from the Landsat satellite, Gregory Geoscience of Ottawa has been able to map detailed changes in mine waste sites over a 10-year period.

The TM data, with a resolution of about 30 metres, was compared with multi-spectral scanning data collected by the same satellite in 1977. The older data have a resolution of about 80 metres.

Using a personal-computer-based geographic information system called SPANS (marketed by Tydac Technologies Inc., also of Ottawa), Gregory Geoscience integrated the data about wastes with information about vegetational cover.

The results clearly showed how, in 10 years, the waste-rock and tailings areas have increased in size while other areas have been revegetated. The data also revealed breaks in the tailings pipeline and the tailings retaining dam while older sections of these areas have been covered by new plant growth.

PRIVATIZATION AND THE PROSPECTOR

Such gall! A couple of years ago, a northern Ontario prospector was advised by the province’s Ministry of Natural Resources that he was not authorized to cut lines along or within the boundary of Lake Superior Provincial Park. That is, he was not to do any prospecting until a work permit to establish the boundary had been issued. In addition, the prospector was informed that only a licenced surveyor could establish the park boundary. In other words, the prospector was to shell out his own money to determine the park boundary.

Of course, he “was astonished to learn that the provincial government expected him to tell it where its park is located,” according to the winter issue of the PDAC Digest.

The prospector, Gerry Longhurst of Wawa, did not meekly comply. He lobbied the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, which eventually conducted a survey. Viewing the entire matter as a triumph of the individual over government bureaucracy, the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada applauded Longhurst and said “those individuals, like Longhurst, who have the courage to stand up for their rights, will retain their rights and freedoms in this country.”

To protect future prospectors, into the Charter of Rights and Freedoms should be inserted a clause on precisely where the line should be drawn.

SQUARING OFF OVER SOFTWARE

Canada has something in common with its Commonwealth cousin Down Under. The same conditions that spawned a significant, internationally competitive mining computer software industry in Australia have, to a somewhat lesser degree, created a similar industry in Canada.

The remoteness of most of Australia’s mining operations contributed to the rapid evolution of computer systems to enable operations to control high staff cost and turnover. Also, most large Aussie mines use integrated maintenance and supply systems, again for the sake of efficiency. The same can be said of many Canadian operations.

This all adds up to some interesting competition for the Canadian marketplace. Aussie firms such as Batstone Hendry & Associates, Engineering Computer Services, KRJA Systems, Mincom, Runge Mining Micromine and Surpac are aggressively making their presence known in Canada. In response, Canadian firms such as MPH Consulting, Lynx Geosystems, Geopak Systems and Gemcom Services are themselves becoming more aggressive on their own home turf. Once the market is saturated, it will be tough for companies to get a foothold. It will be interesting to see which firms succeed in capturing the biggest chunk of our market.