The many eyes that watch the mine, end to end
Argus Mine doesn't watch the operation from a single source. It cross-checks measurements that are independent of each other — and that independence is what makes a reconciliation mean anything.
What an “eye” is in a mining operation
Each eye measures on its own. None confirms another: that is where the value is.
Design
DXF meshes from the mine planning software: what was planned (as-planned).
As-built survey
Drone, GPS or laser scanner. Accurate, but episodic and expensive to capture across the whole site.
InSAR / SBAS
Sentinel-1 radar with continuous coverage between surveys, at a resolution in the order of 10 m.
ICESat-2
NASA laser altimetry for areas of interest without a coherent radar signal, typical of pits with constant equipment movement.
Grade control
Blast holes: measured grade against the block model, with its own QAQC cycle.
Plant
Measured crusher or mill feed, the only valid source for F2. The connection to the plant measurement is configured during setup.
Fleet and dispatch
Truck cycles and misdirected material. The connection to the site's dispatch system is integrated during setup.
The rule that having many eyes imposes
What cannot be measured is not compliance. If “plant” tonnage is recomputed from the same geometry as mined tonnage, F2 collapses to 1.000: it looks like perfect compliance, and it is comparing a quantity against itself along two paths. A factor of 1.000 caused by missing independent measurement or resolution is flagged as not interpretable, not as “on plan”.
Two measurement paths, one verdict
Ground survey is accurate but episodic and expensive to capture across the whole site. Satellite coverage is continuous, but lower resolution. Argus Mine reconciles them against each other as cross-verification layers.
Ground-based spatial engineering
- DXF design converted into 3D geometry.
- Actual topography from GeoTIFF to TIN mesh.
- TIN-vs-TIN and raster-vs-raster differencing, by bench and in parallel.
- Cross-check against the block model for tonnage, grade and NSR.
- Grade control by IDW interpolation within a 50 m radius when blast-hole samples exist.
Satellite remote sensing
- Sentinel-1 radar image pairs.
- SBAS inversion with MintPy, open-source software from the InSAR community.
- NASA ICESat-2 ATL08 for areas without a coherent radar signal.
- Reference elevation model when the site has no recent survey.
- Automatic satellite reconciliation: cut, fill and mass balance per area of interest.
Economic and intelligence engine
- NSR aggregated by element and by block, exactly as your modelling software calculated it.
- NPV discounting with two anchors: planned date and executed date.
- Separates the effect of executing late from the effect of quantity and quality.
- Executive audit written in the industry's reconciliation terminology.
- History recall to tell a recurring pattern from an isolated case.
Moved volume comes from the difference between surfaces; the block model provides grade and NSR by position. That is why block size does not limit the measurement of how much material was moved.
Platform Architecture
Powered by advanced geospatial processing and comprehensive historical traceability.
3D Geospatial Reconciliation
See operational pain instantly. Compare your as-planned vs. as-built meshes in a 3D environment to detect deviations at the accuracy of your own survey.
Block Model (SCD Type 2)
We implement Slowly Changing Dimensions (SCD Type 2). Maintain an immutable history of the evolution of grades, densities, and categorization of each block over time.
AI and Tolerance Control
Automated breakdown of geological and operational matrices. Dynamically define the area of interest (AOI) radius and manage block-specific tolerance margins.
Financial Impact (NPV)
Translates spatial error into capital loss — separating the impact already realized from the purely temporal cost of executing late. Automatically calculates OPEX penalties and lost revenue from dilution and overbreak.
System Integration (API)
REST API to load designs, surveys and block models from your systems. The connection to dispatch and the site's other systems is integrated during setup.
Audit Reporting
Automated generation of compliance and corporate traceability reports. Align Geology, Planning, and Operations under a single auditable source of truth.
Continuous Satellite Monitoring
Sentinel-1 radar interferometry (InSAR/SBAS) and ICESat-2 laser altimetry cover every AOI between topographic surveys, detecting ground movement in the order of millimeters per year in coherent areas — without waiting on a scheduled drone flight. Where constant equipment movement breaks the radar signal, ICESat-2 takes over.
Independent Grade Control
Validates the Block Model's grade against real blast-hole assay samples. Tells you whether the gap is execution, or the geological model is over-promising the deposit.
Risk Tied to Its Exact Polygon
Every alert points to an exact Area of Interest on the map — not a generic report. The action plan, the owner, and the dollar impact stay attached to the real location where the deviation originated.
Adaptive Learning
Your site isn't an industry average
Argus Mine doesn't apply generic industry thresholds. It learns each site's normal behavior from its own history — and that learning gets better with every period that passes.
Learning
With few periods of history, the system doesn't yet have enough basis to tell a real deviation from that site's normal fluctuation — and it says so explicitly, instead of risking a false positive.
Calibrated
With enough history, every metric gets its own healthy range — specific to that site, that ore type, that mining method. Not the same threshold for an open pit in Chile as for an underground mine in Nevada.
High Confidence
With the full history window, the system doesn't just detect the deviation: it shows how confident it is in that detection and exactly which periods feed that learned range.
That learning is private to each site
The learned normal range and the history the AI recalls never mix across sites or customers — every Tenant and every Site has its own model of normal behavior, isolated from the rest.
AI Pipeline
Spatial Configuration
Definition of the site-adapted coordinate system using GDAL (translator library for raster and vector geospatial data formats).
Block Model (SCD)
Massive ingestion maintaining Slowly Changing Dimensions (SCD Type 2) through centroid-based overlay management to ensure historical traceability.
Operational Plan Management
Integration of short-term designs, pushbacks, and phase sequences (As-Planned) to define the baseline of what is being executed.
Topography and Spatial Engine
Loading of As-Built meshes. The Spatial and Economic Engine intersects volumetrics, calculating financial penalties and spatial deviations instantly.
AI Processing
A language model running on the platform's own infrastructure writes the geotechnical and operational audit report from the deviations, without sending the site's data to external services.
How does it really work?
The process is simple, secure, and automated. We cross-reference your historical operational data with actual executions to train predictive models and deliver precise recommendations. Our ultimate goal: to give you complete visibility from Pit to Port.
The Spatial and Economic Engine uses Advanced Voxelization to quantify dilution and ore loss by intersecting geology with topography. We employ high-performance 2.5D Raster algorithms for Open Pit mining and exact 3D TIN mesh intersection calculations for underground development.
| Category | Risk Level | Justification |
|---|---|---|
| Financial | Critical | NPV loss of -397,039.16. 90% of the negative impact comes from the OPEX penalty for dilution, indicating an operational failure with direct and severe economic consequences. |
| Geotechnical | Critical | 22 zones with severe structural damage (>2 m) to slopes. Imminent risk of bench instability, affecting personnel and equipment safety, and compromising future mine phases. |
| Operational | High | Massive volumetric (2,442.3 mÂł of overbreak) and mass (4,276.25 t of dilution) deviation. Evidence of null or poor control over drilling, blasting, and excavation processes. |
| Environmental | Low | Current data does not report the extraction of penalizable contaminants. However, uncontrolled dilution represents a latent vulnerability if adjacent waste rock contains elements like As, Hg, Pb. |
| Geometallurgical | Medium | Dilution alters the head grade and mineralogy of the plant feed, introducing unplanned variability that can affect recovery. The metal "gain" complicates reconciliation and can mask recovery issues. |
The platform, up and running
Every screenshot is from the running application, not a design mockup.
Precise Geospatial Visualization
Import your DXF designs and drone scanner results to instantly visualize structural deviations. Our WebGL-based viewer shows a deviation heatmap highlighting Overbreak, Underbreak, and Dilution directly on the mesh — and the same panel shows NPV, OPEX, and lost-revenue impact without leaving the 3D view. Risks aren't flagged by hand: the reconciliation engine detects them automatically by crossing design against survey, then anchors each one to its exact location on the model — every point you see on the mesh is a real alert, not a manual annotation.
- Custom Clipping Planes
- Structural Analysis (Dip and Strike)
- Risks detected automatically and anchored to their exact location
- Financial impact (NPV, OPEX, lost revenue) visible in the same view
Wireframe and LiDAR Support
Effortlessly switch between CAD standards and LiDAR color schemes. Measure gradients, distances, and analyze structural risks directly from your browser without the need for heavy desktop software.
Plan and Execution Tracking
Control the chronological production hierarchy. Breakdown short-term plans into execution periods (shifts or weeks) and instantly visualize the OPEX penalty and NPV impact of each iterative cycle.
Geometallurgical Breakdown (Fine Grades)
Go beyond gross volume. Quantify the unplanned loss or gain of up to 22 elements and metals (Au, Ag, Cu, Mo and others) by crossing partial-block volumetrics with the intercepted block.
Financial Impact Dashboard
Monitor value destruction (NSR) through Waterfall charts and evaluate the historical evolution of operational deviations. Directly connect overbreak and underbreak with real cash loss.
Root-Cause Intelligence, Not a Static Report
The Operational Intelligence view answers what a quarterly report can't: where deviations originate by phase, which overbreak/underbreak patterns repeat in the same AOI, whether the dilution or ore loss trend is climbing, and whether the issue is systemic or an isolated case — before it turns into an NPV figure.
Every Alert, With Its Own Statistical History
No alert fires against a generic threshold. The system learns each site's healthy operating range, compares it against the industry benchmark and its own history — and shows exactly which periods feed that range and at what confidence level. That's how you avoid manufacturing a deviation where there's only normal behavior for that site.
The 3D Design Viewer, With Impact Already Calculated
Planned design and actual survey as independent layers on the same 3D mesh. Toggle the deviation heatmap with its tolerance legend, and the Reconciliation panel —Total NPV Impact, OPEX Penalty, Lost Revenue, Dilution, and Ore Loss— updates in the same place you're looking at the geometry, not on a separate tab.
Every AOI, Drawn Over Real Satellite Imagery
Define the exact polygon of a waste dump, a stockpile, or a pit phase directly over high-resolution satellite imagery — drag vertices, insert new points, adjust the area in real time. That same geometry is what anchors every risk alert, every satellite reconciliation, and every material movement to an exact place on site.
From Satellite Image to 3D Model, Without Switching Screens
Select an Area of Interest on the map and open its 3D Design Viewer directly — same flow, same site. From there you set the clipping section, inspect specific coordinates, and measure distance and gradient on the real surface.
Structural Analysis: Distance, Gradient, and Sections
Beyond volume: measure distances and slopes directly on the mesh, toggle clipping planes to inspect internal sections, and switch between top, front, profile, and isometric views without leaving the browser.
Scalable for all stages of your operation
Argus Mine adapts to the size of your business. From critical OPEX control in Junior miners to managing multiple sites with different coordinate systems in Large-Scale Mining.
Junior Mining & Exploration
In early stages, dilution and uncontrolled OPEX can kill your project. Audit every extracted ton and protect your cash flow from day one.
Mid-Tier Mining
Improve plan adherence with agility. Turn spatial variances into financial KPIs period by period, without depending on complex IT bureaucracy.
Large-Scale & Multi-Site Mining
Visualize all your operations in a single corporate dashboard. Advanced support for simultaneously operating multiple sites with different coordinate systems.
Partial-Block Volumetrics
Each block contributes the fraction of its volume that actually falls inside, prorated in plan and in elevation: the method used when the number goes into an auditable report.
Security and Access Control
Role-based access control and isolation of each organization's data. Integration with your corporate directory (Active Directory, Okta or another SSO) is configured during setup.
All-in-One Ecosystem
Eliminate isolated solutions. Integrate your operational plan, block models, and CAD tools into a continuous flow of automated validation and auditing.
Your Operation in Your Pocket
Mining never stops, and neither do you. Check key metrics and review reconciliation reports whether you're at the site, in transit or at the corporate office — from your phone, tablet or desktop.
How much value is your mine losing today?
Every day a deviation goes undetected, unexplained or unresolved, the value at risk keeps growing. Start by seeing it.