The Rocketmine division of Public Display Technologies (PDT) has become the first commercial RPAS operator working in the mining sector to be approved by the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA).

Rocketmine received its Commercial Operating Licence for Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) on October 16, 2015. This award follows the activation of new commercial RPAS regulations in the country on July 1, 2015.

Rocketmine currently employs 11 eBee mapping drones to conduct tasks such as land surveys, site monitoring and volume calculations at mines across South Africa.

“Using drones such as the eBee to conduct operational duties has produced high quality data in a fraction of the time and at a percentage of the costs. In the mining industry in particular, most high risk tasks conducted by our drones have eliminated the safety risk for mining staff’, explains Chris Clark, Rocketmine Division Head.

“There is no doubt that drones are set to revolutionise the way in which many key industries in South Africa conduct their business” Clark added.

Read Rocketmine’s full news announcement.