CASE STUDY

Albian Sands uses 3D laser scanning for mining Albian Sands Energy Inc. is a joint venture that operates the Muskeg River Mine on behalf of the owners of the Project. The Muskeg River Mine, located 75 km northeast of Fort McMurray, , Canada contains more than 6.5 billion barrels of mineable bitumen.

Albian Sands geologist operates the I-Site 4400LR at Muskeg River Mine HIGHLIGHTS Operating at design capacity, the mine The I-Site 4400 cold weather accessories, • I-Site systems designed to produces 155,000 barrels of bitumen a day. including a scanner jacket and heated optimise management of In oil sands mining, a mix of oil and sand is batteries, proved successful in the sub- surveying, engineering and zero Celsius temperatures typical of geological tasks removed from just below the surface using shovels and trucks. This material is mixed northern Canada winters. • Cold weather package includes with warm water to separate the oil from the Convinced of the functionality of the I-Site a scanner jacket and heated sand. Since the oil sand mined at Albian is a system, Albian rented a scanner for 4 batteries very dark and organic material, determining weeks to evaluate data derived in its pit. different ore grades and mapping of The benefit of viewing scan data coloured • I-Site photos and scans are a ore-waste splits was a challenge for the by intensity of laser returns quickly became valuable real-time option geologists. evident. This colour scheme made the ore Data from drillholes and traditional surveys layers clearly visible. was not available in a timely fashion to support short-range adjustment to the Digitised ore faces were easily loaded geology models or mine plans. In addition, into Vulcan and used in conjunction with the dynamic nature of the short face oil sand drillhole data to map and design working pit made shovel face design a challenge. shovel faces. The geology department found Many times, data was not available before an additional benefit in the digital photo- the face changed. rendering feature when doing geological mapping. Albian already uses Maptek Vulcan™ software and two geologists were The soft shovel faces are unsafe and are introduced to the Maptek I-Site system at very rarely mapped geologically due to a Users Conference,. Albian later arranged highwall instability. Albian Sands geologists a field trial of the equipment at the Muskeg found measurements from the I-Site photos River Mine, with the primary objective of and scans to be a valuable, real-time testing the functionality of the I-Site system alternative to having no data. in cold weather. www.maptek.com Scan points of a shovel face at the Muskeg River Mine TESTIMONIAL Analysis of one scenario during the mined instead of being sent to the waste Studies proved that I-Site evaluation period yielded a nearly $500,000 dump with the underlying waste, a key scans and photographs are a CDN revenue stream that would have been factor used to justify Albian’s purchase of valuable option for collecting missed without the benefit of I-Site. the I-Site 4400LR. mapping data, with speed of data Using the traditional process, a band of The primary intended uses of the system acquisition the main advantage. waste had been defined. During mining, it will be determining pit volume changes and It is now a key element of the was noted there was ore above the waste geological mapping. Muskeg River Mine’s efforts to contact. The same face was scanned using The speed of data acquisition has made improve geological modelling the I-Site 4400LR. the I-Site 4400LR very popular at the mine. accuracy, survey control, and With the additional drillhole data in the The geology department has received general support of pit operations. surrounding area, a volume for the ore multiple requests for scanning dump piles, was calculated, and was determined to ramps and limestone collapse structures be economic to pursue. The ore was then from other groups on site.

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