Largest Japanese drone firm Terra Drone Corporation has opened new branch in South Africa aiming to revitalize underground mining in the country, the firm’s chief executive officer has confirmed.
Toru Tokushsige, founder and CEO of Terra Drone said that by utilizing best-in-breed drone technology the firm will be looking to boost safety in mines at time when frequent collapses and deadly accidents continue to occur in mining operations.
“Terra Drone’s South Africa branch will provide a total smart-mining solution using our industry leading drone and software technology providing one of the world’s first underground drone solutions,” he said.
South Africa was once one of the top gold producers in the world but now ranks 8th globally. Reduced mining output and the rise of production in other countries have played a role in pushing down South Africa’s ranking.
“It is generally difficult to adapt to the dark and narrow environments due to the confined space and lack of GPS signals that drones typically use to navigate,”said Tokushsige.
“That is why we are offering unique underground drone solutions with the use of innovative and ground-breaking technologies developed by one of our group companies, Inkonova AB.”
Terra Drone will be seeking to reduce human injury in mines, boost data accuracy and speed of data collection and delivery.
Terra Drone enters South Africa after it a acquired a significant stake in Inkonova AB, one of the few companies worldwide developing underground mine drone technology.
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