Leica Geosystems Mining

Leica Geosystems TruStory
Leica Jps: A New Constellation for Mining at Newmont Boddington Gold

Global Positioning Systems (GPS) revolutionized the world of measurement by providing accurate positioning signals, available for commercial and public use. Reliant on these GPS signals are mine sites, particularly when maintaining a consistent level of operational output. Obstruction of these signals results in drop out areas, or “black spots” which cause mining machinery to park up and stop work.
Drop outs commonly occur in the bottom of pits due to the height of high walls. This is due to GPS signals not reaching machinery receivers which high precision guidance systems rely on for reliable positioning. This directly affects productivity, and in worse cases, intermittently stops mining production. Additionally, safety is a concern when surveyors are required on site to provide back up when GPS fails to deliver.

“... in my opinion, and that of many others in mining, we have reached the limits of what a GPS-based system can offer in this scenario [open-cut mines]... Using even the most current GPS technology, we cannot overcome coverage issues at the bottom of the mine.” John Carr, Senior Technical Specialist,
Newmont Boddington Gold mine
In 2005, Leica Geosystems Mining and Locata Corporation began a partnership. The goal was to achieve zero-mark up on all high precision equipment by resolving the loss of GPS signals in deep pit mines. The same level of accuracy as GPS was required, but with greater reliability.
Locata Corporation created a radio location technology that replicated GPS satellites on the ground.Leveraging a history of innovative measurement solutions, Leica Geosystems combined Locata’s ground breaking radio-location technology with GPS to develop the Leica Jigsaw Positioning System (Jps).

”We have been working closely with Leica Geosystems to develop the Jigsaw Positioning System, which is powered by Locata technology and is a part of the Leica Jigsaw product suite. Locata, across the open pit mine area, is ensuring that Jps customers have solid, operational cm-level positioning which is independent of GPS.” Nunzio Gambale, Chief Executive Officer and founder, Locata Corporation.

“Through this partnership, the Jigsaw Positioning System will continue to meet and exceed industry expectations. We are truly providing a new capability for mining applications, enabling them to operate with un-precedented signal up time and benefit from the huge associated financial return. And we know it works—we have the data.” Haydn Roberts, Chief Executive Officer, Leica Geosystems Mining.
Leica Jps includes self-surveying Jps LocataLites™ that each act like a GPS satellite, but on the ground. These Jps LocataLites™ are portable and can be placed around the edge of a pit. They work with highly integrated RTK GNSS+Locata Jps Receivers which are placed onto the mine machinery. The Jps Receivers use the LocataLites™ as another constellation in addition to the GNSS satellites. This network—Leica Jps—provides consistent RTK accurate positioning to the high precision guidance systems. Leica Jps seamlessly augments the GNSS and Locata signals with no interruption to machine operation.
Initial beta testing of the fledgling system was conducted at DeBeers Venetia mine in South Africa. The results gathered from DeBeers provided substantial data for Newmont Boddington Gold, Western Australia to initiate a working partnership with Leica Geosystems and Locata Corporation. All parties recognised the need to achieve a reliable positioning system across NBG’s high-precision fleet, in their ever deepening pits, and Jps was the solution. NBG are no strangers to highly integrated mining solutions, in 2006 NBG incorporated Leica Geosystems High Precision systems into their drilling operations. “Newmont’s association with Locata and Leica Jps evolved from a need to achieve reliable and consistent GPS coverage across its high-precision fleet, something that we now know from experience to be an idealistic but near-impossible dream,” said John Carr, Senior Technical Specialist, NBG.
In March 2012, field tests concluded that Leica Jps provided not only immediate improvement in positioning signals but additionally, increased overall mining production and performance. “Under the spectre of the current global economic environment, it is paramount for miners to maximise the efficiency of their operations,” said John Carr, Senior Technical Specialist, NBG.
Today, NBG have deployed Leica Jps over two pits, north and south, and fitted most of their high precision fleet with Jps Receivers.
The results are clear, examined over a two month period, the availability of GNSS was reasonably good at 92.3%. However, Jps reported an impressive 98.8% signal availability that equated to a 6.5% increase in operational productivity. Specifically in the North Pit (shown above), where inherently the GNSS coverage is poor, results showed GNSS at 75.3% in comparison to Jps at 98.7%, a significant 23.4% improvement.
Dr. Brendon Lilly, Product Manager, Leica Geosystems Mining, discusses the potential cost savings: “Two drills over a two month period reporting an increase of 6.5% in coverage equates to 112.7 hours of additional guidance. The cost downtime for a high precision drill (due to no signal availability) is about $1000 per hour, applying the additional coverage of 112.7 hours results in $112,700 of savings for two drills over two months. These operational cost savings for a mine dramatically boost the bottom line.”
“Newmont Boddington Gold is so happy with the results that they have turned off their GNSS-only solutions altogether, and now rely solely and successfully on Leica Jps alone. They have already installed Jps on all their drills and have started to equip the remaining high-precision fleet of shovels, excavators and dozers with Jps,” said Dr. Brendon Lilly.
Leica Geosystems Mining and Locata Corporation with the assistance of Newmont Boddington Gold have made the impossible, possible.

Leica Jps is a proven true alternative to GPS.

“Boddington have achieved their zero-mark-up goal for their entire drilling fleet and now are looking to implement this for their digging equipment, all because of Jps.” Dr. Brendon Lilly, Product Manager, Leica Geosystems Mining.