Experiences from thermal drone imaging field campaign for developing automated tailing pond monitoring

A multi-action drone imaging and field data collection took place at Kevitsa Mine, Sodankylä, Finland, in 19th-23rd August 2024. The campaign aimed to provide technical basis for developing remote sensing services like surface ground moisture retrieval near the tailings storage facility, and water level and volume mapping in the tailings pond. Various drone-based instruments gathered multiparametric images, supported by extensive ground measurements for modeling and validation. In-situ ground moisture sensors with IoT connectivity were also installed near the tailings dam. Part of this multi-action drone campaign was thermal drone imaging data acquisition. The thermal imaging drone campaign aimed to gather data for monitoring potential seepage in the tailings dam. Several thermal drone missions were conducted over the dam, nearby forest, and lake. Sami Siikanen handled thermal imaging payload and actions, while Timo Lind from VTT managed the drone equipment and flight missions. Aim was to produce thermal orthomosaics from desired regions of interests. Experiences showed, that operating automated mission flight gathering hundreds of image captures from the area required consuming several battery sets to be successfully completed. RTK function is critical for achieving accurate geolocations for the imagery. The campaign was part of EU Horizon project called “GoldenRAM – EO platform supporting critical raw materials industry in Europe”.