Sector · Quarrying & Aggregates
Drone surveys for quarries and aggregates
Stock figures you can reconcile, face and tip data your competent person can use, and extraction mapped against your permission, measured from the air without stopping production.
- Stockpile volume
- ±1–2%typical on well-formed piles with verified control
- Surveyors on stockpiles
- Noneevery pile measured from the air
- Vertical accuracy
- ±20 mmRMSE, verified against checkpoints
Selected clients
01What we hear
The problems we’re asked to solve.
- 01
Month-end figures that do not reconcile
Weighbridge tickets say one thing, the stock survey says another, and the difference has to be explained to the area manager. Spot-height surveys and visual estimates leave too much room for argument.
- 02
Surveyors near faces and on tips
Walking a stockpile or approaching a face edge to take a level is exactly the kind of exposure the Quarries Regulations 1999 and industry safety campaigns aim to remove. It also takes people away from productive work.
- 03
Staying inside the planning permission
Extraction boundaries, depth limits, stand-offs and phased restoration are all conditions of consent. The mineral planning authority can ask for evidence at any time, and so can the landowner.
- 04
Year-end stock audits
External auditors want stock valuations backed by an independent measurement with a stated method, not a site estimate. The survey has to happen on the right day, whatever the weather is doing.
- 05
Measuring without stopping the site
Haul trucks, loading shovels and blasting schedules do not pause for a survey. Any measurement has to fit around production, not the other way round.
02How we help
The right survey for each decision.
03Procurement & compliance
Easy to appoint. Easy to audit.
Fitting into how your quarry runs
Our crews expect a quarry induction and follow your site rules, from PPE and vehicle requirements to one-way systems and designated parking. Take-off areas are agreed with the quarry manager and kept clear of haul roads. We work to the safety standards promoted across the industry by the Mineral Products Association (the MPA, which absorbed the former Quarry Products Association) and, in Northern Ireland, by QPANI.
Blasting and exclusion zones
We are never airborne during a blast. Flights are scheduled around your blasting programme in liaison with the shotfirer, and we stay outside the blast exclusion zone until the all-clear. Where useful, we can fly immediately before and after a shot to record the face and the muckpile profile.
Monthly reconciliation and stock audits
- A fixed survey date each month, for example the last working day, agreed in advance.
- The same control and method every visit, so month-on-month changes are real changes.
- Tonnages calculated from your site-specific bulk densities, with the densities stated on the report.
- Reports by product and stockpile, with surface models and plans showing each pile boundary.
- An audit trail suitable for external auditors at year end: date, method, control and checkpoint results.
Quarries Regulations 1999
Operators must ensure excavations and tips are subject to geotechnical assessment by a competent person. Our face and tip surveys provide accurate geometry for that work; they support the competent person's appraisal and do not replace it.
- Insurance: £10m public liability and £10m professional indemnity insurance, with certificates issued on request.
- Accreditations: Constructionline Gold, SSIP · Once For All Health & Safety.
- Site-specific RAMS and flight plans issued before every first visit and reviewed when the site changes.
Procurement pack
Everything your approval process needs, in one issue.
- Constructionline Gold & SSIP health and safety certificates
- CAA Operational Authorisation & operator registration
- Insurance certificates (public liability, professional indemnity)
- Site-specific RAMS & flight risk assessment
- Pilot competency records
- Data protection & privacy statement
- Accuracy methodology & sample survey report
04Case studies
Example projects.
05FAQ
Common questions
On well-formed stockpiles with good ground control, volumes are typically within 1–2%. The underlying surface is usually accurate to around ±20 mm vertically, verified against checkpoints. The larger source of error is often the base surface beneath the pile, so we agree how that is defined, whether from a previous survey, the known floor or an interpolated base, and state it on the report.
Yes. We apply the bulk densities you supply for each product and show them on the report. If your densities have not been checked for a while, we can suggest how to test them, as density is usually a bigger source of error in tonnages than the volume measurement.
No. We agree a take-off area away from haul roads and fly while the site works. Loading from stockpiles during the flight can affect the result, so for month-end surveys we usually ask for a short pause on the piles being measured or fly early before loading starts.
We get your blasting schedule in advance and plan flights around it, keeping clear of the exclusion zone and never flying during a shot. If you want the face or muckpile recorded, we can fly before and after the blast once the shotfirer gives the all-clear.
Yes, and most quarry clients work this way. We fix the dates, method and deliverables at the start, fly on the same control every time and price per visit, so reconciliation becomes routine and costs are predictable.
Drone stock surveys are widely used for year-end valuations. What auditors look for is independence, a clear method and evidence of accuracy. Our reports state the date, control, checkpoint results, base surface assumptions and densities used, which gives them what they need.
Yes. LiDAR and photogrammetry produce full 3D geometry of faces, benches and tips, from which we can cut sections at whatever interval your competent person specifies. The data supports their appraisal under the Quarries Regulations 1999; the assessment remains theirs.
No. Neither LiDAR nor photogrammetry measures reliably below the water surface. We map the water edge and everything above it; below-water levels need a bathymetric survey, and we can deliver our data in a form that merges easily with one.
Insights
Guides worth reading first
Other sectors
Who else we work with.
Start a project
Tell us the outcome. We’ll specify the survey.
- 01We aim to reply within one hourA drone surveyor, not a salesperson, reviews your brief and calls if anything needs clarifying.
- 02Fixed quote & method statementScope, accuracy specification, deliverables, programme and RAMS — in writing.
- 03Fly, process, deliverCapture on your programme, then CAD-ready data with a verified accuracy report.