In order to safely and accurately determine water volumes in tailings impoundments or process water storage ponds, a brand new remotely-operated hydrographic survey boat has recently been launched in the USA and is already in use in Australia and beyond .
The Oceanscience Group (San Diego, CA) developed the Z-Boat 1800 to offer surveyors a portable turnkey system that brings high quality positioning and depth sounder instruments together on a convenient remote platform that can be launched and operated from practically anywhere.
The Z-Boat is used around the world by hydrographic survey companies working in rivers, lakes, and reservoirs, but no application is better suited to the system than tailings impoundment surveying. The mine operator benefits by keeping people off the water; Z-Boat users can greatly improve quality and/or quantity of water volume data without significant investment in contractor services, not to mention avoiding the administrative and logistical headaches of launching large boats onto the tailings impoundment. The key to the Z-Boat’s success is the integrated data management system. The user’s own GPS may be simply plugged into the Z-Boat and the on-board electronics merges the positioning data with accurate sonar depth soundings then transmits the data to the shore operator through an integrated radio modem. The operator sees the bathymetry under the boat develop in real time as the survey is conducted. With a range of over 1km and convenient navigation software available, even large areas can be quickly surveyed.
Swathe Services Australia recently conducted a survey of a tailings dam with their Z-Boat 1800; the goal was to determine the remaining capacity of the dam. The Z-Boat was configured with Marinestar HP DGPS and a Valeport MIDAS surveyor single beam echo sounder. The survey of approximately 21 hectares of water was conducted over a 4 hour period, data collection and navigation was conducted through QPS QINSy software to enable real time assessment of data and maintain navigational control and safety of the vessel. The Z-Boat was easier to launch than a conventional vessel and eliminated many of the HSE issues associated with personnel surveying in tailings dams, particularly if contaminated waters or sediments are present.
[mappress] Press Release, December 03, 2012