Method and system for tracking material

A system for tracking material through a mining production chain in which the material is transferred via a plurality of spatially distinct lumped masses of material, the system comprising:

• a plurality of sensors for measuring attributes of the spatially distinct lumped masses of material;
• and
• a processor in data communication with the plurality of sensors and comprising instructions that, in use, cause the processor to:
• maintain a dynamic state space descriptive of the plurality of spatially distinct lumped masses, wherein a quantity of entries in the dynamic state space is varied dependent on a quantity of spatially distinct lumped masses of material being tracked;
• receive one or more measurements from the plurality of sensors relating to an observed lumped mass of material;
• and
• fuse the received one or more measurements into the dynamic state space to provide an updated estimate of material in the plurality of spatially distinct lumped masses of material.

A system for tracking material through a mining production chain, comprising:

• a) at least one excavator having:
• i) an excavator sensor that in use scans a surface of material to be excavated;
• and
• ii) a location sensor,
• wherein, based on the surface scan, an associated processor estimates a quantity of material excavated by the excavator as a first spatially distinct lumped mass of material;
• b) at least one haul truck that in use receives excavated material from the at least one excavator, wherein material loaded into the haul truck comprises a second spatially distinct lumped mass of material and wherein, in use, material is offloaded from the at least one haul truck to define at least a third spatially distinct lumped mass of material;
• c) a monitoring system that tracks movement of the at least one haul truck;
• and
• d) a material-tracking processor in data communication with the at least one excavator, the at least one haul truck and the monitoring system, wherein the material tracking processor maintains a dynamic state space descriptive of the first, second and third spatially distinct lumped masses of material and fuses information characterising the material in the mining production chain to provide an updated estimate of the spatially distinct lumped masses of material.