Customer Stories

A prominent Western Australian surveying firm won a bid for pre-design surveys for a complex of mining infrastructure spanning tens of kilometers—but with a tight window for completion. They chose the Trimble X7 for its ease of use, durability in harsh environments and automated cloud registration, speeding up not only field acquisition time, but also reducing office processing time. overview Location PILBARA REGION, WESTERN AUSTRALIA TRANSFORMING THE WAY THE WORLD WORKS TRANSFORMING THE WAY THE WORLD WORKS The Pilbara region in the northwest of the state of Western Australia is remote, arid and rich in mineral resources. The region accounts for nearly 40 percent of global iron ore production; local residents joke that in some places you could "weld rocks together." The mining town of Tom Price is the hub of a complex of dozens of some of the world's largest iron ore mining operations. The region's mining, conveyance and processing infrastructure, some of which were first built in the 1960s, is undergoing rapid modernization and expansion. One such project is the Western Turner Syncline Phase 2, which will cost over $1 billion. The new and expanded infrastructure will enable the mine operators to sustain approved production of 30 million metric tons per year, with the first ore to be delivered during the third quarter of 2021. Survey Group (SG) is a prominent surveying consulting firm with a portfolio of services that extends across minerals, energy, construction and civil engineering. Ben Simpson, who heads up Operations & Business Development for SG said, "There was a whole range of different areas spread over about 80 kilometers between the main processing plants, conveyors, transfer stations, pump stations and so on. Most of the scans are for the design of new infrastructure there, but they're really worried about the alignment to existing geometry and facilities." The time window for the survey, which could encompass thousands of scans, was only a few weeks and just ahead of the commencement of construction in early 2020. ALL HANDS AND EQUIPMENT ON DECK After consulting with HL Geospatial, their local Trimble distribution partner, SG added a second scanner, a Trimble X7, to their existing Trimble TX6 to double up on scanning for the project. "It is lightweight, self-calibrates, is easy to use and looked to meet all of our technical requirements," said Simpson. "We evaluated several options, and in that price range we believe it's the best product for our needs." SG ran their X7 and TX6 in tandem to meet the tight

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