Ambitious goals
In Europe, it is estimated that there are around 30,000 closed mine sites. Many of these still may have considerable amounts of essential raw materials. However, most of these closed mines are now flooded and the last piece of information of their status and layout is decades or more than a hundred years old. The complex underground layout, topology and geometry of most underground mines, make it impossible to do any surveying by conventional or remotely controlled equipment. One of these examples is the usage of human divers, which can prove unfruitful and even lethal in harsh deep mine conditions.
The main objective in the UNEXMIN project is to develop a fully autonomous multi-platform Robotic Explorer, made by three robots which will share the workload, using non-contact and non-damaging methods for exploration and 3D mine mapping of flooded and deep mines, otherwise inaccessible, in Europe. UNEXMIN’s pioneer technique can open new exploration scenarios for European abandoned mines.
Specific goals of the UNEXMIN project are as follows:
- Design and build a multi-platform Robotic Explorer for autonomous 3D mapping of flooded deep mines
- Demonstrate the operation of the prototype at a set of representative pilot sites
- Develop an open access platform for technology transfer and further development between stakeholders
- Develop a research roadmap in support of further technology development
- Develop commercial services for exploiting the technology
These major objectives are being supported by a science and technology merger of deep sea robotics solutions with user’s requirements from the mining industry. They will lead to a fine-tuning of UX-1 and its equipments so that the technology can best serve end-users.
