Abstract:
The increased adoption of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) may improve the productivity and costeffectiveness
of remote sensing in the mining industry. This review’s objective is to enable stakeholders
to identify possible application adoption, improvement, and innovation opportunities. The review
merges a building block strategy and practical screening criteria to identify possible avenues of research
to answer the review questions. After the screening process, 72 documents were included in the review.
Papers were classified into four categories: exploration, development, exploitation, and reclamation.
Fifteen applications were identified, the majority of which were in the exploration phase. The most often
researched applications were topographic surveys, reclamation monitoring, and slope management.
From the two UAV types identified, multi-rotor vehicles were the most favoured for all applications.
From the eight remote sensing techniques identified, photogrammetry was the one most often used.
Other techniques were limited because of complexity, cost, or the incompatibility of sensors and UAVs.
The review was limited to published papers in academic journals. Future studies could aim to include
empirical data on the latest UAV applications used in the mining industry.
