Piezometer Monitoring, Canada
Monitor and manage water bodies in your mine
Wherever mining is practiced, water will be a factor that mine engineers will have to contend with. Due to their open nature, surface/open-pit mines, like those found in many locations across Canada, are especially susceptible to water build-up, caused by rainfall as well as seepage from the topography surrounding the mine.
Underground mines are also not immune to this problem. Bodies of water can often be found in the areas where mines are constructed, e.g. in large natural caverns, or can build up due to the modification of the underground environment and surrounding landscape caused by mine construction and ongoing operations.
Unchecked or unnoticed buildup or water volume or pressure within a mine can lead to disastrous consequences if appropriate action is not taken.
As is the case with most risks in mining, the key to managing and controlling risks is monitoring – you can’t deal with a problem you don’t know about.
With a shift occurring within Canadian mining away from open pit/surface mines towards underground mines, it will become increasingly important that bodies of water in underground mines are intensively observed in real time by using piezometer monitoring systems to manage risks and prevent threats to the safety of mine personnel, damage to equipment and vehicles, and productivity loss.
At MDT, we supply world-class equipment to serve as the basis for a comprehensive wireless piezometer monitoring system in any mine, including the VW-RTU wireless node, which can monitor up to four piezometers at a time, and feeding the data gathered into a wireless mesh sensor network that also includes other types of hydrological and geotechnical instruments.
