Mining & Aggregates
MIR delivers high-accuracy volumetrics and terrain models for mines, quarries, and aggregate operations — stockpile inventory, pit progression, and highwall documentation captured without putting personnel in hazardous zones.
Blue UAS Cleared
Freefly Astro aircraft listed within the Blue UAS framework for procurement-sensitive missions.
$5M Aviation Liability
Coverage built for infrastructure field operations.
Redundant Aircraft
Dual American-made Freefly Astro platforms with RGB and LiDAR payloads for mission continuity.
Mobile Field Support
Charging, live viewing, and data review for sustained operations.
Freefly Astro mapping an active aggregate yard
Purpose-Built Data for Mining & Aggregates
Accurate volumes and current site conditions drive inventory, reconciliation, and planning decisions. MIR flies RTK-referenced photogrammetry and LiDAR missions that produce measurable orthomosaics, digital surface and terrain models, and stockpile volumes on a repeatable schedule — with accuracy and validation method established during scoping. LiDAR adds a vegetation-penetrating point cloud for bare-earth terrain models on brushy or partially reclaimed sites, while an RTK base station and ground control tie every dataset to a known coordinate system. Operations, survey, and finance teams get reliable numbers for month-end reconciliation and a clear visual record of extraction and site development over time, all delivered in CAD- and GIS-ready formats.
Every Map Layer of a 1,000-Acre Mine
Aerial mapping of an active mine resolves into a full stack of georeferenced, accuracy-tested mapping products. Drag the handle to peel the same footprint from the textured 3D mesh through true-color orthomosaic, elevation surface, contours, and bare-earth hillshade — every layer built from the same georeferenced dataset.
- Acres mapped
- 1,000
- Extent (km)
- 1.3 × 1.5
- Map layers
- 6
- Georeferencing
- RTK
Textured 3D RGB mesh — the full 1,000-acre reconstruction every downstream map layer is derived from.
From Flight Plan to Reconciled Volumes
Every mining & aggregates project runs the same repeatable pipeline: missions are planned in UgCS, flown autonomously by AMC (Auterion Mission Control) on American-made Freefly Astro aircraft, then offloaded to the right software — Pix4Dmatic for mapping and photogrammetry, Scopito for inspection findings, and Freefly Flow for in-field LiDAR point clouds.
- Step 01
Mission Planning
Sites are programmed in UgCS with terrain-aware photogrammetry-area grids at a fixed Ground Sampling Distance and overlap, maintaining consistent accuracy across pits, faces, and stockpiles.
- Step 02
Field Capture
The UgCS mission is transferred by USB to the Herelink controller and uploaded to AMC (Auterion Mission Control), which flies the RTK-referenced photogrammetry mission autonomously on American-made Freefly Astro aircraft, capturing the active operation — pits, benches, highwalls, haul roads, and stockpiles — with no personnel required inside hazardous zones.
- Step 03
Processing & Delivery
Imagery is processed in Pix4Dmatic into orthomosaics, DSM/DTM surfaces, and stockpile volumes, then exported as LAS point clouds, GeoTIFFs, and CAD-ready DXF/SHP for survey and planning teams.
Services MIR Provides
Stockpile Volumetrics
RTK-referenced volumetric measurement of stockpiles — with accuracy and validation method established during scoping — for inventory and month-end reconciliation.
LiDAR Mapping & Point Clouds
Vegetation-penetrating LiDAR for bare-earth terrain models, classified point clouds, and volumes on brushy, reclaimed, or partially vegetated sites where photogrammetry alone falls short.
RTK & Ground Control Accuracy
RTK base-station and ground-control workflows tie every orthomosaic, surface, and point cloud to a known coordinate system for high-accuracy, reconcilable results.
Site Mapping & Orthomosaics
Georeferenced orthomosaics of active pits, faces, and the full operation.
Terrain & Surface Models
Digital surface and terrain models (DSM/DTM) with contours for planning and earthwork.
Pit Progression & Change Tracking
Periodic collection to compare extraction, material movement, and site development over time.
Highwall, Bench & Haul-Road Documentation
Condition documentation of highwalls, benches, slopes, and haul roads to support safety and maintenance.
The Equipment We Bring To Your Site
Each project is scoped to the required collection method. RGB, radiometric thermal, and LiDAR are deployed in purpose-built acquisition passes based on the required deliverables — RTK-referenced so your data comes back well-documented and ready to use.
Freefly Astro
Blue UAS aircraft
Sony 61MP RGB
High-resolution imagery
Radiometric Thermal
Calibrated heat mapping
Laser Rangefinder
Direct distance & clearance
Freefly Flux O1
LiDAR acquisition
RTK Positioning
InCORS NTRIP · WGS 84
Explore Other Industries MIR Serves
Wind Energy
Wind inspection data collection and vendor support — blade, tower, and nacelle records that pinpoint leading-edge erosion and serial defects without prolonged downtime.
Telecom
Cell-site audits, structural documentation, and measurable digital twins that support colocation and close-out.
Solar & Renewables
Aerial thermography that locates hot spots, diode failures, and string outages down to the module.
Utilities & ROW
T&D structure inspection, LiDAR corridor mapping, and vegetation-encroachment documentation for reliability and compliance.
Rail & Transportation
RGB corridor mapping and LiDAR data along rail corridors — reducing time spent on or near live track.
Civil & Geospatial Support
RTK-enabled aerial LiDAR and 61MP RGB collection — orthomosaics, point clouds, terrain surfaces, and construction documentation to support licensed survey teams, civil engineers, developers, and contractors.
Grain Storage & Handling
Exterior condition documentation, thermal risk screening, and RTK-referenced quantity data for concrete silos, steel grain bins, elevator structures, handling equipment, and visible open storage.
Start With the Project Objective
Have a Mining & Aggregates Project?
Tell us what needs to be inspected, mapped, measured, or documented. We'll help determine the right collection method, payload, mission structure, and deliverables.