Second week of field work and major achievements at the Urgeiriça mine, Portugal

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The second half of the UNEXMIN’s field tests at the Urgeiriça underground flooded mine happened between the 1st and 7th of April, in Portugal, following the first two weeks of trials. For this second half of testing the team brought together both UX-1a and UX-1b to be tested in the waters of Urgeiriça. The highlights of this second half are:

  • 1st of April (Monday): The UNEXMIN team tested the UX-1a in the Lab test tank in the morning and packed both UX-1a and UX-1b robots and the needed equipment for the Urgeiriça trials in the afternoon. The team arrived at the Urgeiriça mine site around 20h00.
  • 2nd of April (Tuesday): The equipment was unpacked, the control room set-up and fiber optic communication with the shaft switch was tested. A field laboratory was also installed with all the required equipment in the control room, to assemble the UX-1 robots. In the afternoon, after all the basic tests/checks, the first dive was done with UX-1a. The main goal of this first dive was to map the vertical shaft with the robot facing the shaft itself, i.e., pitch down and pitch up. The maximum depth reached was 27m below the surface. Up to 20 meters deep the visibility was disturbed by the bubbles accumulated in the dome glasses of the cameras, which also disturbed the DVL and, consequently, the robot’s navigation. After 20m depth the visibility was good and the water clear.
  • 3rd of April (Wednesday): The robot’s weight was calibrated in water to have a better Roll when pitching Up and Down. A mapping dive was made on the central shaft up to 46.5m where all SLSs (Structured Light Systems) were tested with the robot in pitch down and pitch up positions. The construction of real-time maps using the “octomap” technique was also tested successfully.
  • 4th of April (Thursday): Open day to media and the general population at the trial site. Two national television stations (SIC, RTP) were present at the testing site. Norbert Zajzon (project coordinator; UNIM) and Alfredo Martins (INESC TEC) were interviewed by the television stations, which showed a lot of interest in the project.
    During this day two dives were made, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. The morning dive was to the first level (22m below the surface) that served as a demonstration to the media and also to validate the mapping with all the sensors. At the entrance of this level a possible uranium rock was visually identified by Janos Horvath (Geo-Montan), proving the usefulness of the UNEXMIN technology to geologists and alike. In the afternoon dive, the depth of 46.2m was reached. In the ascent to the surface there was a power failure in the robot. UX-1 was successfully recovered due to the safe mechanisms applied by the UNEXMIN team, such as the umbilical cord that links the robot to a power source.
  • 5th of April (Friday): “Exame informática”, a Portuguese technology focused magazine, made a one-day mission coverage of the UNEXMIN project. Two dives were performed, one in the morning and the other by the end of the day. The morning dive served to validate the correct functioning of the robot after the corrections of the problems from the previous day. The end-of-the-day dive served to validate the real-time mapping with SLS and Multibeam sensors, where the robot reached a depth of 58m. After the dive, and taking advantage of the fact that there was no sunlight, the team tested the LEDs’ UV-light with the minerals example, in order to calibrate the triggering time of the LEDs and their intensity to facilitate identification of minerals.
  • 6th of April (Saturday): Two dives were performed, one up to 68m in the morning and another until the maximum depth reached, as of today, by the UX-1 robot: 106.5m! In the afternoon dive it was possible to obtain multispectral images in the 3rd level of rocky areas of interest. It was also possible to enter the gallery up to 9 meters and build the 3D map of it.
  • 7th of April (Sunday): Packing and cleaning the site.

The field trials at the Urgeiriça flooded mine site were completed successfully with a great effort made by the UNEXMIN’s technical teams. Together with the help from the local stakeholders (EDM), the elapsing of the trial – on both the first and second halves – went very well. From this long but fruitful trial, the major take-outs are:

  1. The first two robots, UX-1a and UX-1b, were for the fist time working together on the field
  2. The biggest dive with a UX-1 robot was reached – 106.5m
  3. Scientific instrumentation was tested successfully – UV light, water sampler and others
  4. Navigation and movement within the application environment saw improvements – moving pitch down and pitch up inside the shafts
  5. Good coverage and dissemination of the UNEXMIN project’s activities to the local and national media in Portugal.

The UNEXMIN partners will now continue with the project’s development – which includes the development of the third robot, UX-1c – and make preparations for the next field trial in the Ecton mine, UK.

UNEXMIN presented during EGU 2019

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The UNEXMIN project was once again present at the EGU General Assembly following the example of 2017. In this year’s edition, UNEXMIN was featured under the session “The New Roadmap for Mineral Exploration: Challenges and Innovative approaches“. The talk was held on the 8th of April before an audience of 60 geoscientists from all over the world to whom this innovative project was communicated.

UNEXMIN answered to the call to present “research contributions show case or assist elucidating a better understanding of novel and innovative approaches to the search of mineral deposits for the future in new environments (e.g., at depth, bottom of the oceans, frontier regions, regolith-dominated terrains…), spanning from economic, environmental and technical challenges to greenfields or browndfields technologies and methodologies”. Within this session, UNEXMIN was right at home.

UNEXMIN’s presentation, entitled “UNEXMIN: an innovative approach for mineral exploration in flooded mines” fitted perfectly under the aim of the session and contributed to discussion on this and other innovative mineral exploration techniques, both during and after the session. Interest in the UNEXMIN topic was translated into questions at the Q&A session that followed the presentation. The past, current and future state of the project and its related developments were discussed.

Albeit short, only 12 minutes, the presentation reached an important part of the project’s stakeholders, the geoscientific community, contributing to the dissemination and communication efforts that have been a project’s focus since the beginning. Future collaboration within the raw materials sector and, in particular in mineral exploration, was also discussed. UNEXMIN, together with other projects and initiatives, aims at strengthening the European raw materials sector and contribute to its policy.

It was a pleasure to be represented at EGU 2019 and the UNEXMIN project can only hope to be back in a next opportunity.

 

Learn more about UNEXMIN at EGU2019!

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Following a previous presentation of the UNEXMIN project in 2017, the team will be represented once again at EGU 2019. The abstract/presentation entitled “UNEXMIN: an innovative approach for mineral exploration in flooded mines” will show some light on the current and future development of this unique exploration technology. The UNEXMIN presentation aims to contribute to discussions on “The New Roadmap for Mineral Exploration: Challenges and Innovative approaches”.

The EGU2019 event will run during this whole week, from the 8th to the 12th of April, but UNEXMIN’s presentation will be held Monday, 8th of April. Find the exact details of the date and place below:

Scheduling information:

Programme group: ITS2
Session: ITS2.2/ERE4.4
Monday, 08 Apr 2019, 09:30–09:45
Room L7

Find UNEXMIN’s abstract for EGU2019 here: UNEXMIN EGU2019 abstract

The UNEXMIN project would like to invite all interested persons to come and learn more about the development of the robotic system and to debate the project!

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UNEXMIN present at the 2nd International Real Time Mining Conference

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The UNEXMIN project was recently invited to be part of the 2nd International Real Time Mining Conference as co-organiser like it was on the 1st edition of this event. This time, the event included a visit to the Reiche Zeche mine, in Freiberg, coupled with talks from the Real Time Mining project on the first day (26th March) and a conference day with presentations on mining exploration on the second (27th March). UNEXMIN presented four talks and contributed to the debate on the present and future of the raw materials sector.

On the first day, the UNEXMIN team members (4 partners institutions were representing the project in this event, i.e. LPRC, UNIM, INESC TEC and GeoZS), had the opportunity to learn more about the Real Time Mining project results and outcomes. A visit to the Reiche Zeche mine guaranteed a hands-on experience at the project’s exploration solution. The UNEXMIN team could exchange data and debate this new technology line with its developers and other interested parties.

It was, however, on the second day, that the UNEXMIN project gave its major contribution to the conference. A total of 4 presentations covering different aspects of the project, covering hardware, software and testing, were given to the audience:

1 – Developing an underwater robotic platform to explore flooded mines – the state of the UNEXMIN project
2 – Multispectral imaging of minerals in flooded mines – a case study
3 – UNEXMIN underwater 3D mapping with sonar and laser scan
4 – Testing of prototype robot UX‐1a for exploration and mapping of flooded underground mines

With these talks participants were introduced to the project and had the chance to learn more about its developments and description of work, to ask questions about the technology and to form synergies for the future. The UNEXMIN proposed line of work – to develop an autonomous underwater system to explore and map flooded mines – is inline with the European raw materials policy and, therefore, also inline with the development efforts made by other projects and companies within the mineral exploration and exploitation sectors.

The UNEXMIN team would like to thank the invitation and opportunity to be present at this event. Informing stakeholders of the current state of the project and its innovative developments is an intrinsic aim of the project. Debating this and other technologies with experts will bring the European raw materials and robotics sectors forward.

UNEXMIN to be presented at the Real Time Mining 2nd International Conferecence in Freiberg, Germany

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The UNEXMIN project was invited by the Real Time Mining Project – both EU funded projects under Horizon 2020 and dealing with raw materials issues – to be present at their 2nd Internatioal Conference. UNEXMIN will join other projects in coorganizing the event. This conference will be held on the 27th of March, in Freiberg, Germany.

For this event, the UNEXMIN project will bring a total of four presentations, focussing on 4 areas:

  1. Overview presentation of the project and its current development state;
  2. The underwater 3D mapping tools developed within UNEXMIN;
  3. The multispectral imaging of minerals in flooded mines;
  4. The UNEXMIN field trials with the UX-1a robot.

UNEXMIN is aiming at contributing to the conference with talks on its innovative solution to explore flooded mines while contributing to raw materials knowledge in Europe. The project partners will engage in discussions with the remaining participants to strenghten possible collaborations between European projects and together contribute to the development of the European raw materials and robotics fields.

UNEXMIN is developing an autonomous underwater robotic system to explore and map flooded underground mines that allows geological, mineralogical and spatial data to be obtained in a cost-effective, non-risky way.