Mine Site Automation

Mining operations run on data. Stockpile volumes, haul-road condition, pit progress, infrastructure health are captured on a cadence that traditional pilot-led flights simply can't sustain.

Mine site automation puts that data capture on autopilot: an automated mining drone flying scheduled missions every shift, without taking a surveyor or pilot out of the pit.

What is Mine Site Automation and How it Works

Drones in mining have traditionally meant occasional, contractor-led flights. Mine site automation makes that capability permanent: a docked drone that runs scheduled and on-demand autonomous missions across your operation. For example, stockpile capture in the morning, haul-road sweeps mid-shift, pit progress at end-of-shift.

Every flight pushes its data straight into the GIS, survey, and asset platforms your technical-services teams already use, turning month-old snapshots into daily site intelligence.

Most Australian mine sites are remote and in uncontrolled airspace, the perfect environment for BVLOS. Sphere's BVLOS authorisations and Remote Operations Centre mean a small remote-pilot team can supervise multiple sites from one location, with no permanent flight crew on the ground.

Drones in Mining, a Complete Data Capture Solution

Mine site automation isn't a drone, it's an end-to-end system that consists of the right hardware, software that governs, executes and delivers it, and a remote operations centre running it all.

• HubT is the primary platform for a permanent program, installed at active pits, processing facilities, and stockyards and integrated with existing site infrastructure for ongoing, fixed-location autonomous flights.
• HubX is portable and relocatable, the practical way to prove out a new location, cover exploration or satellite pits, and support short life-of-mine campaigns before committing to a permanent install.

Many operations run both: HubX to test and expand, HubT where the workflow becomes permanent.

The hardware is only half the system. Every flight is governed, executed, and delivered through Sphere's Curo software suite.

• CuroRPA is the compliance and governance foundation, managing flight approvals, records, and pilot and asset management, the backbone that keeps a BVLOS mining program defensible.
• CuroROC is the remote operations centre platform that plans and flies the autonomous missions, enforcing CuroRPA's compliance on every sortie.
• CuroInsights turns the captured data into decision-ready intelligence, delivered straight to your survey, technical-services, and operations teams.

Workflows enabled

• Pit progress and operational change monitoring.
• Haul-road and infrastructure inspection.
• Blast aftermath and geotechnical capture.
• Autonomous-haulage and operational change support.
• Stockpile volumetric capture (open-pit complement to indoor stockpile monitoring).

Expected outcomes

• Inspection workloads measured in days reduced to hours.
• Daily site intelligence instead of monthly snapshots.
• Survey and technical-services teams released to higher-value work.
• A defensible, repeatable survey and compliance evidence trail.

Together, HubT or HubX plus the Curo suite, supervised from Sphere's Remote Operations Centre, it's one compliant, repeatable system from take-off to the data on your desk. It suits open-pit mining operations across Australia, from Western Australian iron ore and goldfields sites to coal, base metals, alumina, and mineral sands, plus mining-services and survey partners and integrated operations spanning multi-site portfolios.

Find Out How Your Operations can Benefit

Every mine site is different, the right mix of HubX and HubT depends on your pit layout, survey cadence, and how data moves through your technical-services teams.

A Sphere team member can assess your operation, identify the workflows worth automating first, and model what daily autonomous capture looks like against your current survey and inspection costs.

Book a mine site assessment to see how automation fits your operation and where it starts paying back.