After announcing last month that they had partnered with an unnamed African mining company to use drone technology for security purposes on said mining giant’s premises, global drones-as-a-service provider Delta Drone International must have done a really good job – because they are expanding that contract to now include light detecting and ranging (LIDAR) operations.

Adding to the company’s growing list of drone-based data services it provides for the mining conglomerate over the last three years, the LIDAR operations will help assist the mining company in examining possible mine site expansions in real time at its various locations.

“To be requested for additional services by our enterprise customers is a testament to the core value our drones-as-service model can provide, and our ability to deliver tailored solutions outside our core remit,” said Delta Drone International CEO, Christopher Clark.

“Having specialist brands by sector allows our staff on the ground to gain a deep understanding of specific industries and work closely with our customers to embed our services into their daily operations and help solve the challenges they face.

“The challenge for this customer is accessing real-time earth quality reports to most efficiently assess mine site expansion options. Through our aerial LIDAR capabilities, we will provide the data they need, in the timeframe they need it and allow them to solely focus on their core business operations.

“The trust our enterprise customers place in us to help solve these types of challenges through a fully outsourced solution is the reason we have long-standing customer relationships and are the go-to drones-as-a-service provider in Africa. We are seeing increased demand to use our LIDAR capability to create these ‘digital elevation models’ that allow companies to see below thick forest and other surface vegetation and more accurately determine site suitability for certain types of infrastructure and how a site can be used.”

Through subsidiary, Rocketmine Aerial Data Solutions, Delta Drone International is adept at providing drone-based solutions to the mining industry, and they will be speaking about those solutions at the Drones and Unmanned Aviation Conference in Johannesburg this June.

You can book your seat to the event here.