Aerial · Drone services for mining & aggregate

Know what'sin the pilebefore month-end.

A drone flies the pit, the benches, and every stockpile in one pass, and you get measured volumes you can take to inventory, an orthomosaic and 3D model of the working face, and a change map of what moved since last time. RTK-referenced, processed in-house, delivered to a shared folder your mine engineer and QP work from.

Request a quote See the work

Pit & quarry owners
Ready-mix & aggregate
Construction materials
Mine managers
Reclamation reporting

Colour-relief elevation surface · Demonstration dataOne flight measures the whole site

What you get

Everything an aggregate operation needs from the air, in one visit.

A single mobilization measures your stockpiles, maps the working pit, and records what's changed since the last flight. Inventory volumes for the office, a current model of the face for the operator, and a clean surface-disturbance record your engineer and QP feed into the regulatory file. One flight, one shared folder.

Stockpile & aggregate volumetrics

Every pile on the yard measured from a single RTK-referenced flight (sand, gravel, crush, road base, overburden, reject), each one a photogrammetric volume estimate against a defined toe and base plane, with the per-pile numbers tabulated so the office can reconcile against production and sales. Captured the same way each cycle, so this month's count compares cleanly to last month's instead of to whoever paced it.

You receive: per-pile volume table · annotated stockpile map · RTK-referenced surface model

Pit, bench & haul-road orthomosaics

A single stitched straight-down orthomosaic of the active pit, plus the benches, ramps, haul roads, and laydown areas in one current, georeferenced view. The base map your team plans the next push from, marks up for a contractor, or sets beside last quarter's to see how the face has advanced, all drawn from the same capture as the volumes.

You receive: pit orthomosaic · georeferenced base map · bench & haul-road extents

3D pit model & working-face record

An interactive 3D model and point cloud of the pit reconstructed from the same flight: orbit the working face, look at a bench from any angle, and keep a dated 3D record of the site as it stands today. Useful for planning the dig, briefing a crew or a board, and tracking how the pit changes shape over the years.

You receive: 3D pit model · point cloud · interactive 3D via Sketchfab

Surface-disturbance & reclamation change maps

Flight-over-flight change maps showing where the disturbed footprint has grown, where material has moved, and, on reclaimed ground, how revegetation is filling in over time. A dated, georeferenced record of the surface condition your mine engineer and QP draw on when preparing the annual reclamation submission. The imagery and measurements are inputs to that submission; the operator's qualified professional interprets them and signs.

You receive: disturbance-footprint change maps · revegetation monitoring imagery · dated condition record

Everything lands in a shared client folder. Volumes are photogrammetric volumetric estimates (RTK-referenced, with relative accuracy stated alongside each figure) for production tracking and inventory; the orthomosaics, 3D models, and change maps are imagery and topographic data prepared for your mine engineer and qualified professional to interpret and certify. See what this is, and what it's not for the full boundary on surveys, certification, and stability opinions.

Stockpile volumetrics · for the office

A volume number you can reconcile, flight after flight.

The value of a stockpile count is that it's repeatable. Each pile is measured photogrammetrically from an RTK-referenced flight against a consistent toe and base plane, and the same method every cycle means the yard is compared to itself. The result is a model-derived inventory number the office can set against production and sales, for your engineer to certify, with the surface model behind it kept on file.

RTK-REFERENCED

How the number is built

The flight is flown with RTK positioning and, where the job calls for it, ground control targets placed across the site, so the surface model is georeferenced and each pile is measured against a defined base. The surfaces, volumes, and cut/fill comparisons are produced in Virtual Surveyor, licensed professional measurement software we run. You receive the per-pile volume table, an annotated map showing what was measured, and the surface model itself. Carried out the same way each visit, the figures line up cycle over cycle for production tracking.

These are model-derived volume estimates for inventory and production tracking, RTK-referenced and repeatable cycle to cycle, and prepared for your engineer to certify when a certified figure is required.

See the full stockpile volumetrics page →

Who it's for

One pit, several people who all need the view from above.

An aggregate operation is run by people with different jobs, and a single flight serves all of them. The office needs inventory, the operator needs a current pit, and the engineer or QP needs a clean record for the regulatory file.

PIT & QUARRY OWNERS

Pit & quarry owners

A dated 3D record of the working pit you can set this period's flight against last period's, plus a measured inventory the office reconciles against production and sales.

READY-MIX & AGGREGATE

Ready-mix & construction materials

Per-pile volumes across every product on the yard, tabulated for the office to reconcile against what's been produced and shipped. The kind of recurring count that turns a year-end inventory guess into a number with a surface model behind it, and gets someone off the base of the face to do it.

MINE MANAGERS

Mine managers & their engineers

A current orthomosaic and 3D model of the pit, benches, and haul roads to plan the next push from, plus the topographic data your engineer needs as an input to their own work. Visual and measured data for the team that plans and certifies: captured and delivered, never an engineering or stability opinion from us.

RECLAMATION

Reclamation & regulatory

Surface-disturbance change maps and revegetation monitoring imagery that document the footprint and how reclaimed ground is filling in over time: a dated, georeferenced record your QP draws on for the annual reclamation submission. We supply the inputs; your qualified professional interprets them and signs the file.

Rendered terrain surface with mounded ground forms, the kind of measurable surface model a stockpile and pit volumetric estimate is computed from. Demonstration data.

One flight · The whole pit

Measured,never climbed.

Pacing off a stockpile and guessing at tonnes is slow, and it puts someone on foot at the base of a face. A drone reads every pile and the working pit from above in a single flight: a dated, RTK-referenced surface model you can stand a volume number on, captured and processed in-house.

Rendered terrain surface · Demonstration dataRTK-referenced · processed in-house

Straight talk on what this is

What this is, and what it's not.

The volumes are photogrammetric volumetric estimates, RTK-referenced, with the relative accuracy stated alongside every figure, for inventory and production tracking. They are not, and never claim to be, a legal BCLS survey, a property-boundary determination, or a certified figure. When a certified number is needed, the volumes and the surface model behind them are prepared for your BC Land Surveyor or mine engineer to interpret and certify. The measurement is ours; the certification is theirs.

The orthomosaics, 3D models, and surface-disturbance change maps are imagery and topographic data: a record of the site as it stands, prepared as an input for your mine engineer and qualified professional. We do not offer a tailings-dam or geotechnical stability opinion, we don't engineer or certify the pit, slopes, or earthworks, and we never sign the reclamation professional-of-record statement. We capture and deliver the picture your professionals plan and certify from.

Once, or on a schedule

A standing program that lines up with reclamation reporting.

Most aggregate sites carry a recurring rhythm: periodic inventory counts and an annual reclamation submission under the Mines Act. A flight can be a one-time capture, or a standing program on a schedule you set: regular stockpile counts through the year, plus an annual disturbance-and-revegetation capture timed to your reclamation reporting, each delivered the same way so the record stays comparable from year to year. The scope-call-to-delivery process is the same on every Kendal Ventures project, and any airspace step is flagged at the scope call, not on capture day.

See how every project runs →

Volumes + pit map in one flight
Transport Canada-certified RPAS pilot
Captured & processed in-house
Summerland, BC

Questions & answers

Mining & aggregate drone services, answered.

How accurate are the stockpile volumes?

Each pile is a photogrammetric volume estimate measured from an RTK-referenced flight against a defined toe and base plane. Every volume is reported with its relative accuracy stated alongside the figure. Because we capture the same way each cycle, the figures compare cleanly from one count to the next, which is what makes a recurring program useful for inventory and production tracking. These are estimates for operational use, not a legal BCLS survey or a certified figure.

Is this a survey?

No. We deliver photogrammetric volume estimates, orthomosaics, 3D models, and change maps, RTK-referenced and georeferenced, but not a legal BCLS survey and not a property-boundary determination. When you need a certified figure or a boundary, the volumes and the surface model behind them are prepared for your BC Land Surveyor or mine engineer to interpret and certify. We supply the measured data; your professional certifies it.

Can you support our annual reclamation reporting?

Yes, as an input. We capture dated, georeferenced surface-disturbance change maps and revegetation monitoring imagery that document the footprint and how reclaimed ground is filling in over time, delivered the same way each year so the record stays comparable. Your mine engineer and qualified professional interpret that imagery and prepare and sign the reclamation submission. We never sign the professional-of-record statement, and we don't offer a tailings-dam or geotechnical stability opinion.

Can we run this as an ongoing program?

That's the common setup. A flight can be a one-time capture, or a standing program on a schedule you set: regular stockpile counts through the year and an annual disturbance-and-revegetation capture timed to your reclamation reporting. Each visit is captured and processed the same way, so the volumes and maps line up year over year. We'll agree the cadence with you at the scope call.

The same pipeline maps more than a pit.

The RTK-referenced volumetrics, orthomosaic, and 3D-model workflow behind your pit capture is the same one that measures stockpiles on a construction site and maps whole sites across the South Okanagan.

Rendered terrain surface of a worked site, the measurable ground model a photogrammetric volume estimate is computed from.

Stockpile volumetrics

Measured stockpile volumes

The same RTK-referenced photogrammetric volume estimates, tracked flight after flight, for construction yards and material stockpiles of every kind.

Classified point cloud of a mapped site rendered in 3D, the planning-grade orthomosaic and terrain pipeline used across construction sites.

Construction, commercial & public

Site mapping & terrain

Planning-grade orthomosaics, terrain, and 3D for the whole site, all from the same capture pipeline, pointed at a working construction project.

Request a quote

See your pit from above.

Tell us how many stockpiles, how big the pit, and whether you want a one-time count or a standing program aligned to your reclamation reporting. We'll scope the flight around your operation and deliver to a folder your engineer and QP work from.

Request a quote

Every inquiry gets a reply within one business day.