R-evolution adding a new dimension to airborne imagery at Vale legacy mine site
R-evolution, Hexagon’s green-tech subsidiary, has launched its first missions deploying advanced hybrid airborne imagery and LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) technology, the company says.
This milestone supports reclamation efforts within the extractive industry and marks a key phase of the Hexagon Green Cubes initiative, it added.
Green Cubes – a digital twin capturing the complexities of natural environments – integrates multiple reality capture technologies, including satellite and airborne LiDAR and imagery, terrestrial LiDAR, camera traps, acoustic sensors and ground-penetrating radar. The solution provides the extractive industry with an integrated 3D environmental monitoring system. These insights are presented through an AI-powered Green Cubes platform, offering a “digital window” into forest ecosystems.
Powered by Leica Geosystems’ hybrid airborne system, which simultaneously captures high-resolution imagery and LiDAR, the flights will map more than 20 sq.km to generate a digital twin of natural habitats around mining assets, protected areas and their surrounding landscapes.
The system produces high-density point clouds with more than 40 points per square metre, enabling highly detailed 3D modelling of forest structure. This level of precision provides accurate insight into environmental conditions – from large trees to ground-level vegetation – and can detect even the smallest branches. These digital twins can support mining companies in monitoring biodiversity, assessing rehabilitation progress and managing sustainability efforts with greater accuracy, while also creating new opportunities for community engagement and educational initiatives that promote long-term resource mobilisation, Hexagon says.
“Green Cubes is redefining how the extraction industry approaches environmental responsibility – providing transparency from space to the roots,” Erik Josefsson, President of Hexagon’s R-evolution, said. “By embedding Green Cubes digital reality into the mining life cycle, we’re enabling our mining partners to accelerate restoration, improve compliance, and unlock new value through natural capital.”
Vale is already deploying Green Cubes at its Mina de Águas Claras site near Belo Horizonte, Brazil. This 1,908 ha closed mine, now undergoing repurposing, has already seen notable environmental monitoring results: the first Puma concolor sighting in 10 years, the first recorded maned wolves on video at the site, and 146 bird species identified over 90 days using AI-enhanced camera and sound traps. Now, with the new airborne LiDAR flights, the entire 20 sq.km area will be mapped in full 3D at 10-centimetre resolution.
Green Cubes is also gaining traction with Samarco, another major iron ore producer that is a JV between BHP and Vale. The solution is currently deployed in Gaio and Horto Alegria, with potential expansion into wider areas and additional applications.
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