Pagny-sur-Meuse: Humens’ “digital” quarry
At Novacarb, the Pagny-sur-Meuse quarry relies on drones and data to extract limestone safely and to optimize the long-term operation of the deposit.
Just a short distance from our Lorraine site Novacarb, this quarry supplies the limestone essential to manufacturing our two historic products: sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate. For several years now, its operation has been built on the full digitalization of on-site activities.
Why digitalize quarry operations
A quarry is a constantly changing environment: working faces advance, stockpiles shift, haul roads are redrawn as extraction progresses. It is also an area with numerous risks for those working there, earthmoving machinery, trucks, conveyors, crushing plants. Simply walking to the top of a stockpile or along a working face carries a significant risk of falling from height.
This is why Humens chose the digital route for Pagny-sur-Meuse: to reduce team exposure to these sensitive areas, to make operational decisions more reliable, and to improve long-term management of the mineral resource. With a precise, up-to-date picture of the deposit, our teams can anticipate requirements, limit material losses and plan extraction more efficiently. It is an approach that helps secure the future of the quarry while improving its performance.
How drone surveying works
Every month, a drone flies over the quarry and carries out a topographical survey. The images collected are then assembled into a digital model of the quarry, which can be explored in 2D and 3D in order to:
- track the progress of operations and compare reality against the phasing plans,
- plan drilling and blasting operations and optimize their positioning,
- accurately calculate the volumes extracted between two surveys,
- identify future extraction zones and machinery access routes.
Cutting lines and traffic routes are therefore fully digitalized, replacing traditional survey methods, which were slower and left field teams more exposed.
Beyond safety, this detailed knowledge of the terrain makes it possible to improve production yields, reduce unnecessary machine movements and make better use of workable areas. Decisions are based on reliable, up-to-date data, supporting more sustainable management of the deposit.
A long-standing technology partnership
This digitalization draws on Airware technology, a specialist in drone data processing for the construction and mining sectors. The video below looks back at our collaboration with Novacarb and shows concretely how drones fit into the day-to-day management of the site.
