Mining within deep and high-stress conditions inherently involves risks both to the personnel and the mining operation. To operate safely and efficiently in such extreme environments, it is necessary to understand the behaviour of the rock mass in response to the continuously changing stress field. Mobile scanning data acquisition methods and interpretations have emerged since 2012 and have been shown to improve the decision-making processes of mining and geotechnical engineers, improving both safety and design. More recently, data acquisition has utilised autonomous and semi-autonomous drones. Just as mobile scanning provided new data for human-inaccessible areas, drones are now advancing this methodology to previously inaccessible areas.