South Africa-based mining company Gold Fields has signed a partnership with the University of Witwatersrand and other institutions to develop new electromagnetic and magnetic methods for deep exploration targeting underground mining.

The project is titled ‘FUTURE: Fibre-optic sensing and UAV-platform techniques for innovative mineral exploration'; it will commence in April 2022 and last for approximately two years.

The parties, including the universities of Venda, Uppsala, Polito, and the Geological Survey of Sweden and Swedish company Nordic Iron Ore, will "advance high-resolution imaging and modeling of the host rock and mineralisation between tunnels and the surface," according to Gold Fields.

The project will employ fiber-optic sensing technologies and UAV-based magnetic, and electromagnetic surveys for high-definition target generations and subsurface imagine.

The technology will be tested at the Blotberget Mine in Sweden and South Deep Mine in South Africa.

Professor Musa Manzi, project lead and director of the University of Witwatersrand, said the technologies would be used to make "a good case study" on how one can maximise the value of mining infrastructures, such as tunnels and boreholes.