Fortescue Metals Group will use unmanned drones to survey its Cloudbreak mine in the Pilbara, as part of an effort to reduce the health and safety risks for survey staff.

The miner has been testing UAVs at Cloudbreak for stockpile volume and topographic surveys last year, using a ‘photogrammetry’ system with a camera mounted onto the drone gathering spatial information.

Fortescue two of its employees at Cloudbreak have now completed Civil Aviation Safety Authority UAV controller training, and it expects full CASA certification to be awarded in the coming months.

Using drones for stockpile surveys will bring “significantly reduced exposure to health and safety risks encountered by the survey team”, a Fortescue spokesperson said.

“Other benefits include increased productivity and efficiency in survey and mining team activities and increased accuracy in data reporting,” they said in a statement.

The company has used drones flown by third-party contractors and consultants for a number of applications in the past year, and will now bring the technology in house.

It is looking at deploying drones for other high-risk jobs within the business as well.

Fortescue is not the first utility or resource company to bring in drones to tackle surveying.

Mining rival Rio Tinto, rail freight operator Aurizon, Tasmanian water corporation TasWater, industrial services company Transfield, Melbourne Water, NSW power operator TransGrid and the budget airline EasyJet have also turned to the technology to reduce human safety risks.