STONE – Smart Terraine Control Using Cutting-Edge Technologies

The STONE project (Smart Terraine Control Using Cutting-Edge Technologies at the Rio Tinto mine, Spain) is a public-private collaboration project framed within the thematic priority of Civil Security for Society of the State Plan for Scientific and Technical Research – PEICTI 2021-2023. It is a very ambitious and innovative project, in which Atalaya Riotinto Minera S.L., the participating company, is committed to a transition to “Smart Mining,” including geodetic and geotechnical control of the mine, in almost real-time. In this context, the role of the two participating CSIC institutes, Institute of Geosciences (IGEO-UCM-CSIC) and Geosciences Barcelona (GEO3BCN-CSIC), is to validate the applicability of two cutting-edge monitoring systems, namely radar interferometry (InSAR) and ambient seismic noise interferometry (ANSI), for better monitoring of deformations that may occur in the mine’s environment. Both techniques, in their latest versions, are very innovative and, although they use different sources of energy (light and sound), share some characteristics that make them very interesting as monitoring techniques. Both are interferometric techniques, which means that they compare (interfere) signals over a certain period of time in a specific area, aiming to detect variations in interference patterns or interferograms, indicating subsurface or subsurface-related surface variations. Therefore, they are two very pioneering techniques that havent been used operationally in mining in Spain, either individually or together, nor internationally. In the near future, if the expected results are achieved, they could represent, along with new terrain deformation modeling techniques developed by CSIC, a turning point in current monitoring practices, not only in the mining sector but also in large engineering infrastructures and natural hazards. Additionally, the project has the added value of knowledge transfer to the private sector, as one of the project’s top priorities is for Atalaya Minera S.L. to become autonomous in handling both techniques upon its completion.