Tata Steel has started using drones on a pilot basis to monitor its mine at Noamundi Iron Mine in Jharkhand.

The objective of the drone application in mine monitoring covers surveillance of the mining area, lease boundary inspection, inspection of safety zone, counting vegetation in reclaimed area and quarry and dump profiling for volume calculations. This trial is conducted by Skylark Drones, a Bengaluru-based firm which specialises in drone application in various industries, said Tata Steel in a statement on Monday.

The Ore, Mines & Quarries Division aims to work smarter and use innovations such as autonomous vehicles, Internet of Things, big data, analytics, remote control centres, predictive maintenance with prime focus on safety.

As a part of mine automation, drones would further help achieve multiple benefits ranging from initial survey to carrying out exploration activity, physical terrain mapping for segregation of land use, mapping of forest area, contour mapping, 3D modelling and terrain modelling for effective mine planning.

It would also help in reclamation studies using the ortho-photography using LiDARs (Light Detection and Ranging), a remote sensing method that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure ranges (variable distances) to the Earth, thereby ensuring safety and security within the leasehold area, it said. Balvinder Kumar, IAS, Secretary, Ministry of Mines, said the government has initiated mining surveillance system using space technology along with a mobile app and this will help stop illegal mining, monitor mining plan, production, dispatch and royalty payment.

“We requested Tata Steel to demonstrate it in Noamundi iron mine,” he said.