SafeSight Exploration registered to provide drone pilot certification

Underground mining drone Credit: SafeSight

SafeSight Exploration is now a registered flight school capable of general and advanced drone pilot certification. SafeSight provides onsite training, Transport Canada exam support and flight review in North Bay, Ontario.

Based on increasing requests to expand from underground mining operations to above ground stock piles, the company adapted its underground drone to above-ground flights. As part of this process, the team of pilots developed above ground skills, as well as a curriculum and the ability to certify drone pilots in both above ground flight and GPS-denied environments.

SafeSight has developed integrated solutions that use Drone, LiDAR (light detection and ranging, which is a remote sensing technology that uses pulsed laser to measure ranges) and imaging technology, to create unique tools for a safer site. Over the past three years, company has completed over 100 underground drone flights and grown its understanding of operational needs and situations where visual or LiDAR applications are needed.

The survey team at Newmont’s Porcupine mine in Ontario has been working with SafeSight to “safely increase the speed, accuracy and capacity of our scans while the operator is at a safe distance out of harm’s way.”

(This article first appeared in the Canadian Mining Journal)