Drones For Prospecting?

[Lead Detector]

Does anyone here use a drone to help cover more area when looking for places to prospect? If so, how helpful do you think it is?

[GotAU?]

I used to do mine surveys and mapping for work, and we used a drone to check hard to reach prospect pits and old mine sites to see if they had any open adits or shafts to survey. It saved a lot of money (in time) instead of us hiking up to them.  I also used it to help with an archaeological survey to look for rock art up on cliffs and outcrops.

Drones for prospecting may help with identifying areas of prior work (old trails, drywashing piles, mine dumps or other worked sites), and looking for areas with outcrops or dikes with prominent mineral deposits. It’s not a new idea, and even Jeff Williams has some videos on his channel where they are also using a drone to look for historic mines.

[GotAU?]

When drones become more autonomous it will also be possible to let them fly into mines to map their interiors using lidar or visual imagery. I saw a demo of dog-like robots doing this at a JPL/NASA open house last year- they were autonomous and could walk in beyond remote control reception to map out deep interiors of mines, caves and collapsed buildings - pretty cool stuff!

[Lead Detector]

20 minutes ago, GotAU? said:

Drones for prospecting may help with identifying areas of prior work (old trails, drywashing piles, mine dumps or other worked sites

That's what I plan on. Should save time from wandering aimlessly.  More time to find shiny 😁

[GotAU?]

It would be difficult to see the small stuff with a drone that gives evidence about the prospecting potentials of an area, but it could help when looking for those off the beaten track with larger types of evidence of gold potential (pits, drywashing piles,etc.). Sounds like a good experiment to see if it is useful for finding new places.

Good Hunting!

[dig4gold]

Here are a couple of you tube footages that may give you an idea.

 

D4G

[Valens Legacy]

I have used my cheap drone from Ebay to survey creeks and hills to locate good spots to do some panning.

From there I have been able to find good areas for the flour gold that is common here in Illinois.

Would I recommend using them in the areas out west, yes I would. Make sure that you have plenty of battery time for the areas that you want to explore.

[GotAU?]

7 hours ago, Valens Legacy said:

I have used my cheap drone from Ebay to survey creeks and hills to locate good spots to do some panning.

From there I have been able to find good areas for the flour gold that is common here in Illinois.

Would I recommend using them in the areas out west, yes I would. Make sure that you have plenty of battery time for the areas that you want to explore.

…and don’t post your beyond visual distance flights on YouTube as the man is looking out for those.

[RickUK]

I use to use my cheapish drone to survey some of my personal permissions here in the UK,but with so many regulations coming in its taken all the enjoyment of using a drone,i can get the same basic information by using google earth and Lidar.Of course i can see the advantage of using a drone for prospecting.

 

[Steve Herschbach]

Previous threads about drones....

https://www.detectorprospector.com/tags/drones/