APPLICATIONS OF GPS BASED MACHINE GUIDANCE SYSTEMS IN OPEN PIT MINING OPERATIONS

3rd International Scientific Conference - SGEM2003, www.sgem.org, SGEM2003 Conference Proceedings/ ISBN: 954-918181-2, June 9-13, 2003, 251- 258pp

ABSTRACT

New developments in machine guidance systems in recent years have led to
an increase in productivity and decrease in costs especially for construction and
mining applications. Especially the usage of machine guidance systems for land
reclamation projects after open pit mining operations is more profitable for time
than traditional methods.
Three-dimensional position of a point can be determined with GPS
technology, which is known as Global Positioning System. And also real-time
positions can be determined by means of Real Time Kinematic (RTK) GPS
Technology and this feature can be used in machine guidance systems.
Taking into consideration land reclamation projects after open pit mining
operations, position of a dozer can be determined in real-time and by comparing
the calculated position against a pre-set Digital Terrain Model, dozer operator can
be guided in real time. On the contrary to traditional methods, dozer operator does
not dependent on surveyors and other support team members but works
independently to complete the job. Cut and fill values to match a pre-computed
design surface can be seen on a computer screen which is placed in the cab, and
operators do not dependent on the weather conditions, they can work efficiently
even at nights.
In this paper, machine guidance systems, especially using these systems in
open pit mining operations were considered and benefits of GPS based machine
guidance system were explained.