The use of RGB Imaging and FTIR Sensors for Mineral mapping in the Reiche Zeche underground test mine, Freiberg

Abstract

The application of sensor technologies for raw material characterization is rapidly growing, and innovative advancement of the technologies is observed. Sensors are being used as laboratory and in-situ techniques for characterization and definition of raw material proper-ties. However, application of sensor technologies for underground mining resource extrac-tion is very limited and highly dependent on the geological and operational environment. In this study the potential of RGB imaging and FTIR spectroscopy for the characterization of polymetallic sulphide minerals in a test case of Freiberg mine was investigated. A defined imaging procedure was used to acquire RGB images. The images were georeferenced, mosaicked and a mineral map was produced using a supervised image classification tech-nique. Five mineral types have been identified and the overall classification accuracy shows the potential of the technique for the delineation of sulphide ores in an underground mine. FTIR data in combination with chemometric techniques were evaluated for discrimi-nation of the test case materials. Experimental design was implemented in order to identify optimal pre-processing strategies. Using the processed data, PLS-DA classification mo-dels were developed to assess the capability of the model to discriminate the three materi-al types. The acquired calibration and prediction statistics show the approach is efficient and provides acceptable classification success. In addition, important variables (wavel-ength location) responsible for the discrimination of the three materials type were identifi-ed.