Case Study: Westmoreland Mining boosts mine survey productivity with WingtraOne from Wingtra

Westmoreland boosts productivity with drone mine surveys

Westmoreland Mining LLC, a 150-year-old energy company operating across North America, needed a safer and more reliable way to survey active coal mine sites. Manual measurement of coal volumes and pit conditions was time-consuming, raised safety concerns, and could not easily cover massive areas with the accuracy required. To address this, Westmoreland turned to Wingtra and the WingtraOne drone with a Sony RX1R II camera for mine and quarry monitoring and operation planning.

Using WingtraOne, Westmoreland now maps entire pits in less than an hour and can capture millions of points in about 15 minutes instead of two hours of manual GPS surveying. The drone is flown about three times a week at the Estevan mine complex, delivering horizontal and vertical accuracy of 2 to 4 cm, supporting stockpile volume calculations, reclamation planning, and safer operations. Westmoreland reports the workflow is easier to use, more precise, and significantly more efficient than its previous fixed-wing and manual methods.

Westmoreland Mining LLC

Albert Wang

Engineering Co-op Student