Delair’s drones and data platform will allow Eramet to develop digital twins of its mining sites and accelerate the digitilisation of its operational centres, with cloud and artificial intelligence-based services.

Eramet, a global mining and metallurgy group, and Delair, a global leader in industrial drone solutions, have signed a framework agreement for the digital transformation of the Group’s mining activities. This strategic agreement will position digital intelligence in the core of the company’s growth, operational performance, and competitive edge. As of now, the agreement provides access to Delair Aerial Intelligence (delair.ai), a new collaborative platform for analysing and using drone data.

Since January 2019, the delair.ai solution has been up and running at the Tiébaghi mine in New Caledonia, and by the end of the year it will be used by all of the Group’s mines. Nine drones are currently in operation at Eramet, with an additional nine coming by end-2019, including flying wings Delair UX11. With the Delair solution, Eramet will be able to map and analyse around 300,000 hectares a year across all of its sites. 

Eramet’s mining sites (New Caledonia, Gabon, Senegal, Indonesia) offer a considerable source of topographical and geological data. Eramet is planning to build digital twins of its mines in order to control their operations in real time, quickly schedule extraction projects, track ore inventories, ensure personnel safety, and manage the environmental impact of its sites.

Combining five times faster methods with a centimetre-level precision in drone data collection, Eramet is able to optimise its mining operations, reduce costs and improve the safety of topographers. Using artificial intelligence-based analytics allows the Group to continually measure and update distances, surface areas, volumes and slopes. Interactive and scalable, the delair.ai platform allows for data to be securely and easily exchanged, providing a convenient space to collaborate, communicate instructions, manage sub-contractors, and store information on the cloud. With this platform in place, it is now possible for Eramet to manage its mining operations in real time, in line with its strategic goals.

Â