8/4/2019 Technology Review Mine Haul Roads

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/technology-review-mine-haul-roads 1/14

 

1

Technology Review

MINE HAUL ROADS 

Jack A Caldwell

August 2006 

8/4/2019 Technology Review Mine Haul Roads

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/technology-review-mine-haul-roads 2/14

 

2

Table of Contents

Introduction............................................................................................................. 3 Information Sources ................................................................................................ 4 Impact Evaluation ................................................................................................... 6 Traffic Control.......................................................................................................... 6 Haul Road Design.....................................................................................................7 Health and Safety..................................................................................................... 9 Consultants .............................................................................................................10 Suppliers ................................................................................................................. 11 

8/4/2019 Technology Review Mine Haul Roads

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/technology-review-mine-haul-roads 3/14

 

3

INTRODUCTION

This quote from the South African CSIR website best justifies this

State-of-the-Art Review:

Principal, but often neglected components of any mining orforestry operation are the haul roads. These roads are oftendesigned with little expertise, resulting in expensive

maintenance requirements and high vehicle operating costs.Truck haulage costs can amount to between 30 and 50 per centof total surface mining costs and up to 60 per cent of totalforestry operation costs. The savings from appropriate design,construction and maintenance of haulage roads and utilization of the most suitable materials can thus be significant.

A U.S. source gives these statistics

Mine haulage costs at open pit mines may represent 50% of themining cost and sometimes as much as 25% of the total costs,which include processing, marketing, and overheads.

Acknowledgements to Environmental Products & Applications.

8/4/2019 Technology Review Mine Haul Roads

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/technology-review-mine-haul-roads 4/14

 

4

INFORMATION SOURCES

The following are the best manuals I came across on the design,

operation, and use of mine access and haul roads:

•  Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection District Mining Manual.

•  U.S. Office of Surface Mining Design of Surface Mine Haulage Roads – A Manual

•  Guidelines for Mine Haul Road Design 

•  Haul Road Design Rules of Thumb 

•  Design Guidelines (Pennsylvania) 

•  Improved Visibility for Operating Large Haulage Equipment 

•  Large Tire Users Group 

•  Guidelines for Traffic Control at Surface Mines 

Michigan Mine Safety & Health

Training Program

Michigan Technological University

Traffic Patterns - Left Lane Driving

 

8/4/2019 Technology Review Mine Haul Roads

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/technology-review-mine-haul-roads 5/14

 

5

There is a Canadian volume that sounds good, but is not available free

on the Internet; rather you have to send away for it and enclose a

check for $250. I will stick to U.S. procedures for that price until

somebody persuades me that it contains more than is available freely

on the web.

While it does not specifically address mine access roads, the California

Highway Design Manual contains considerable useful technical

information for anyone designing, maintaining, or using a mine access

road.

The volume by Conservation International Lightening the Lode,

contains only short sections on mine access roads, but I found the text

so well written, the treatment of the topic so different, and the overall

perspective so focused that I recommend it.

8/4/2019 Technology Review Mine Haul Roads

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/technology-review-mine-haul-roads 6/14

 

6

IMPACT EVALUATION

A fascinating survey of a proposed mine access road and its physical

impacts is study for the Tulsequah Chief Mine Access Road.

Another overview of a long and important mine access road in Alaska

is the update on the True North Project Haul Road.

Attlin to Tulsequah Chief Mine, British Columbia:

Proposed Haul Road. From Skytruth 

The perspective of the U.S. EPA on a mine access road is documented

in the Engineering Evaluation for the Midnite Mine Haul Road.

TRAFFIC CONTROL

The Michigan guidelines for mine traffic control include a nice set of 

practical points.

8/4/2019 Technology Review Mine Haul Roads

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/technology-review-mine-haul-roads 7/14

 

7

HAUL ROAD DESIGN

A thesis from the University of Alberta examines new and better haul

road designs for these large and expensive trucks. Here is the

abstract from this thesis (slightly edited to improve clarity based on

my reading of the remainder of the thesis):

Large haul trucks are used at surface mines in Canada thusrequiring better haul roads. The mines use empirical designmethods, which may not result in optimum road design. A roaddesign method based on resilient modulus results in better haulroad designs than the CBR-based method. Numerical modelingdone to analyze the effect of material modulus, layer thicknessand tire interaction on strain bulbs in a haul road, showed thatputting the stiffest layer at the top results in least verticalstrain—hence improved road performance and reduced truckwear and tear. Coal mines located adjacent to coal-fired electricpower plants produce fly ash as a waste by-product. Tests of fly

ash, kiln dust and aggregate mixes proved that fly ashsignificantly improves the strength and bearing capacity of aggregates thus enabling use of thinner layers for roadconstruction.

A functional mine haul road needs a reliable wearing course to avoid

damage to the mines tucks. The wrong wearing course material

reduces safety, reduces truck efficiency, and increases road and

vehicle maintenance. A paper from professors at the University of 

Pretoria, South Africa, establishes guidelines for selecting materials for

unpaved mine haul roads. Without going into the details, suffice it to

say that the professors document guidelines for selection of wearing

course materials based on the material’s density, dust ratio (a

8/4/2019 Technology Review Mine Haul Roads

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/technology-review-mine-haul-roads 8/14

 

8

geotechnical parameter I have not previously encountered, but it is

intuitively obvious), Atterberg Limits, CBR, and particle size

distribution. Even if you never use the complex system they set up, I

recommend the table of haul road performance characteristics and the

rating of severity of defects and the basis for deciding when to

undertake repair and establishing the nature of such repair.

On the Caterpillar site is a description of the following code that may

be used to improve haul conditions on mine roads:

Road Analysis Control (RAC) is an information product thatallows the customer to monitor haul road conditions and improvelarge mining truck performance, productivity and safety whilelowering repair, maintenance costs and downtime. Integratedwith the Vital Information Management System (VIMS®), RACprovides real time feedback to the operator about haul roadconditions which are detrimental to cycle times and power train,frame, suspension components and tires. Through the VIMS

message center, two levels of RAC eventsalert the operator to places in the haulroad, which require attention, both fromthe standpoint of truck operation andsupport equipment. When used with atelemetry system like Caterpillar'sVIMSwireless, By monitoring this data,mines will be able to identify and attend tohaul road sections affecting cycle timesand component life.

8/4/2019 Technology Review Mine Haul Roads

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/technology-review-mine-haul-roads 9/14

 

9

HEALTH AND SAFETY

At the MSHA site you will find a self guided tour on the safety of mine

access and haul roads. The number of graphic pictures of vehicles and

trucks run over, run down embankments, and tipped up because of 

poor mine road design, maintenance, or use, reminds us all of the

criticality of this topic to cost-effective and safe mining.

A visually effective presentation is the Michigan Mine Safety and

Health Program Guidelines for Traffic Control at Surface Mines .

See also the TechnoMine review on mine health and safety.

8/4/2019 Technology Review Mine Haul Roads

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/technology-review-mine-haul-roads 10/14

 

10

CONSULTANTS

Computer codes to help in designing mine haul roads are found at

sites including:

•  Creative Engineering 

•  Mincon 

•  SEH 

• 

•  Surpac Minex 

8/4/2019 Technology Review Mine Haul Roads

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/technology-review-mine-haul-roads 11/14

 

SUPPLIERS

Sadly no one can “supply” a mine haul road; it was to be designed and

constructed in situ. And it has to be maintained. The supplier most

likely to be of interest it the one who can help control the dust from an

unpaved road. Here are some such suppliers and information sources:

CBR Plus North America. I particularly liked their brochure, includingthe history of the product development in South Africa and the soil

chemistry lesson that explains why the product works.

Dust Pro. In addition to product descriptions, their website is a fine

source of information about the technology of dust suppression and

the regulations that make it necessary.

Mega Corp has the trucks that do what I am most familiar with,

namely spray vast quantities of wter on the roads. How refreshing

that always way in the hot deserts of my first construction site.

Midwest Industrial Supply, Inc has a well-stocked website with loads of 

information on and a wide range of products for conventional and

other dust control methods in mining and other industries. I will go

back to this site. They even have products for bike trails. They get

my vote.

11

8/4/2019 Technology Review Mine Haul Roads

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/technology-review-mine-haul-roads 12/14

 

12

Soiltac Dust Control provides dust control materials to the US military

in Iraq—interesting side aspect of operations in an undoubtedly dusty

place.

Polo Citrus Australia has the prettiest website with “natural” dust

control product for sale. Not quite what you expect from mining

Australia. Worth taking a look at even if only to see their photo gallery

8/4/2019 Technology Review Mine Haul Roads

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/technology-review-mine-haul-roads 13/14

 

13

Dust-A-Side is a South African-based company specializing in total

dust control management systems for the mining industry. They have

dust binding products and construction and maintenance programs to

help you control your mine’s dust.

Dustkill is a mid-west distributor of 100 percent agriculturally derived

oils the cure, stabilize, control, and provide dust abatement for mine

haul roads.

Road Material Stabilizers (Pty) Ltd. carries that fascinating South

African (Pty) after its name. I once studied the law behind this, but

forget the details. Regardless, they have a full line of soil stabilizers,

binders, dust suppression and erosion control products.

RhinoSnot Soil Stabilizer. Who can resist a product with this name.

They promote its use on mine tailings, landfills, and stockpile caps.

And it is used in Afghanistan by the U.S. Marines. Actually the

company is called Environmental Products & Applications, but that is

ordinary!

8/4/2019 Technology Review Mine Haul Roads

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/technology-review-mine-haul-roads 14/14

 

14

The Martha Mine case history of dust control is interesting as an

example of full-scale mine application and use.

The Foam Book is an odd website containing links to other site and

publications on dust control and other foam technologies. But mine

roads is hardly it focus so go here for general interest only.

The Dust Control Handbook covers dust control from all aspects of 

minerals processing industries; it is comprehensive.

Warajay International in Australia supplies products for road and

pavement stabilization and dust suppression.