BlueCap Minerals — Airborne Geophysics Australia

Airborne survey contractors fall into two camps, and each owns one half of what an exploration team needs. Electric drones deliver detail: low, terrain-following lines and dense data, but one aircraft flies about 200–250 line-km a day and a block of a few tens of square kilometres takes weeks. Crewed aircraft and helicopters deliver scale: 1,500–3,000 line-km a day, but at 60–100 m above ground with 100–400 m between lines, so the fine structure is averaged away. BlueCap was built to hold both halves at once: one BlueCap crew with long-endurance petrol helicopters flies the line-kilometres and areas of a crewed aircraft in one mobilisation week, while every sensor stays in a 1 m corridor over the terrain, the way a small drone does. The price for the same block is broadly comparable with crewed aviation; the data is not.

• 01

  Manned aircraft

  Manned aircraft cover 1,500–3,000 line-km a day, but from 60–100 m above ground on 100–400 m lines: great distances, and data that can be coarse and often inconclusive at target scale.

• 02

  Electric drones

  Electric drones fly tight lines and collect high-resolution data, but at about 200–250 line-km a day per aircraft; endurance, range and payload constrain the size and remoteness of the survey block.

• 03

  The BlueCap system

  BlueCapHeli® closes that gap. Our long-endurance gas helicopters are engineered in-house specifically for precision geophysics. They let us acquire high-resolution magnetic data over large, remote targets and fly mission profiles that manned aircraft cannot fly and other drones cannot sustain.

Mountains, highlands, desert, snowfields and night operations are familiar parts of our operating envelope. Challenging topography is where the aircraft, crew and mission planning all have to work together.

We are set up for survey blocks without roads, communications or mains power, including areas where there is little or no prior data.

Our mission is to accelerate the discovery of critical minerals needed for the global energy transition by giving exploration teams better airborne data.

• 01

  Find critical minerals

  We help exploration teams investigate new deposits of lithium, cobalt, copper, rare earths and other critical minerals beneath remote and difficult ground.

• 02

  Make better drilling calls

  High-resolution magnetic data gives geologists more evidence for anomaly ranking and drill targeting, particularly where access is limited. Better information helps direct exploration spend and avoid preventable drilling.

• 03

  Support electrification

  Airborne geophysics supports the search for minerals needed for a sustainable, electrified future. Our role is to acquire dependable airborne geophysics data over ground that is otherwise difficult to survey.

BlueCap controls the survey chain from system design and mission planning to acquisition, QC and delivery. There are fewer hand-offs and one team is accountable for the result.

• 01

  Specialist systems and service

  We deliver drone-geophysics services with our own aircraft, survey methods and specialist crew.

• 02

  One team from design to delivery

  The same organisation develops, operates and supports the complete RPAS field platform.

• 03

  Full-cycle accountability

  One accountable workflow covers system development, survey acquisition, QC and client data delivery.

Operating principles

• 01

  Mining folklore

  The name Bluecap comes from English mining folklore.

• 02

  An underground guide

  In the stories, a Bluecap was a helpful, flame-like spirit that guided miners towards underground treasure, but only when they worked with honesty and respect.

• 03

  What the name means to us

  The name suits the standard we set for our own work: precision, fairness and respect for the ground, the data and the people relying on it.