5

COMMON HAUL ROAD

CHALLENGES IN MINES
And how to address them at your site

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5 COMMON HAUL ROAD CHALLENGES IN

Q. Why was this ebook produced?

A. This document has been produced to provide an overview of
the key pain points mining operators contend with in relation to
 haul road networks as well as a summary of how these
challenges can be addressed.

Q. Who is it for?
A. It has been designed for road planners, designers, engineers
and superintendents. This guide is a valuable resource
whether a site is yet to be constructed or is already in
operation.

Q. What will you get out of it?

A. The ebook will explain the importance of using a combination
of different solutions in order to achieve a cost-effective
approach to haul road management.
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PROVEN TO OUTPERFORM constructed to enable haulage of ore, coal, waste or other
commodities from ‘Point A’ to ‘Point B’ in the most efficient
manner.

It therefore goes without saying that the effective design and

proactive
management of haul roads is an essential part of optimising
mine production.
5 COMMON HAUL ROAD CHALLENGES IN
MINES

INTRODUCTION
Mine haul roads are the backbone of any mining operation,
designed and
 2. Productivity
3. Operating costs
4. Environmental impacts
5. Operational safety

As many mines have experienced first hand, an inadequately

constructed and maintained road will ultimately lead to
premature deterioration, exorbitant costs as well as poor
environmental and safety outcomes.

This eBook explores the following 5 common haul road

challenges as well as solutions that mines can adopt to
overcome these challenges in order to get the best possible
return from a road network:

1. Maintenance costs
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5 COMMON HAUL ROAD CHALLENGES IN

HAUL ROAD
CHALLENGE #1
MAINTENANCE COSTS
Haul road maintenance costs represent a huge expense for mines and most companies are forever
looking at ways to reduce this burden.

Pothole repair, repair of failed sections of road and re-sheeting of roads are just some of the routine
maintenance work that mines struggle to keep within budget.

The need for re-sheeting in particular is one of the most expensive ongoing costs associated with haul
roads.

Most mine haul roads are designed with a wearing course of at least 200mm depth, and sometimes as
much as 500mm depth.

This layer is considered a somewhat sacrificial layer which needs to be totally re-sheeted every one to
three years when deterioration occurs.
 SOLUTION:
The thing to bear in mind is that while both the base and sub-base design of a haul road needs to remain
constant as they are the primary load-bearing layers,
the top wearing course design can be changed significantly.

Provided a haul road has been built upon a solid base, incorporating an emulsion of bitumen in water into
the wearing course layer will help to stabilise and waterproof the running surface.

In turn, this means that the wearing course layer design can be at least 50% thinner.

The waterproofing and binding properties of bitumen means that the wearing course material is ‘glued’
together and water does not permeate through this layer or into the base layers beneath, resulting in
significantly less deterioration.
Deterioration is often the result of the pooling of water and creation of soft-spots in the base layers of the
haul road as well as the gradual washout of fines caused by rain events and regular watering of haul
roads for dust suppression purposes.

Over time, the cost of re-sheeting roads can become exorbitant. However, it doesn’t have to be this way.

A stabilised haul road can often be constructed with a wearing course of only 100mm. This is no longer a
sacrificial layer that needs to be regular re-sheeted, but instead a permanent asset that will survive the life
of the haul road, provided it is maintained correctly.

The end result is a more robust haul road that exhibits less deterioration and significantly reduced
maintenance costs.

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5 COMMON HAUL ROAD CHALLENGES IN
HAUL ROAD
CHALLENGE #2
PRODUCTIVITY
It’s no secret that all mining companies dread the wet season.

With expensive machinery and personnel standing around idle, the downtime can quickly erode even the
most successful company’s profits.

The wet season necessitates that mines are as resourceful as possible and to do things smarter and more
cost effectively.

Often there isn’t a lot the can be done during adverse weather conditions. Poor visibility and other safety
factors can naturally bring the haulage operation to a grinding halt.

SOLUTION:
Stabilised roads – especially those sealed with an emulsion of bitumen in water – dry substantially faster
after wet weather compared to unsealed roads.

The reason for this is the surface water is shed rather than pooling or being absorbed. Therefore, recovery
time is faster and work can resume much sooner.

But it’s important to also note that products alone are not a magic solution.

The fundamentals of good road construction and routine maintenance must be incorporated. These
include:

> Road camber to ensure that water is shed from the surface to the edges of the road, and

> Drainage to get the water away from the sides of the road and preventing it from soaking back into the
sub layers of the pavement.
However, the recovery period is a totally different ballgame.

Traditionally when the torrential rain stops, the graders come out and grade the slurry of mess off the top of
the haul roads in an attempt to dry them out and make them trafficable again.

This approach leads to a significant loss of productivity.

Waterproofing haul roads also helps to reduce the need for maintenance work and downtime compared to
unsealed roads…both during and after wet weather.
 Waterproofing will reduce the washout of fines and good quality wearing course material and will also
reduce the ingress of water into the sub layers of the pavement. This means less soft spots and potholing
of roads.

All of the above approaches will lead to better productivity gains across any sized haul road network.

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5 COMMON HAUL ROAD CHALLENGES IN

HAUL ROAD
CHALLENGE #3
OPERATING COSTS
Haul roads present a litany of ongoing operating
costs – from fuel to graders to labour and equipment
components.
Two of the most onerous costs which are difficult to
keep on top of are:
> Water carts
> Truck tyres
The use of water carts to suppress dust on haul roads
is a widely used approach in mines all over the world.
Even though water itself is sometimes considered to
be “free”, watering haul roads actually comes at a very
high cost.
For example - based on a network of 20km of roads at
approximately 10m wide, water cart operating costs
(for both cart and operator) could total well over $1
million per annum in direct operating costs, operating
on a continual basis.
SOLUTION:
The best way to reduce operating costs is to
adopt a range of holistic road management
strategies.
For example, one way to cut costs associated with
water usage on haul roads is through the use of
sweeping systems. This usually involves using
specially designed mine haul road sweepers to
control dust, contamination and loose material on
the pavement surface.
Additionally, dust suppression solutions are available
which can be sprayed onto haul roads or incorporated
into the wearing course layer. Such solutions actively
work to reduce the need to employ water carts by up
to 90%.
Cutting water usage also goes hand in hand with
improving tyre life. Saturated haul roads increase wheel
slip, decrease traction and increase the cutting action of
rocks. It’s widely known that wet rubber is far softer
than dry rubber and cuts 10 times more easily.
Other factors such as travel and accommodation
costs, supervision, interaction with production
equipment and road degradation costs caused by
watering all need to be factored into the equation
 as well. The better quality it is; the longer tyres will last.

Solutions to reduce the frequency of which haul
roads need to be watered will naturally result in
significant savings in operating costs.
As mentioned above, another key haul road
operating cost is the cost of truck tyres. And if
there’s one thing every mine site superintendent
knows about haul truck tyres it’s: “The more they
turn, the more we earn.”
A stabilised haul road consisting of a 50-75mm
bonded wearing course with a bitumen seal layer
will ensure reduced loss of fines and less water
ingress.
Stabilised roads also lead to a less aggressive
surface from a tyre perspective, thereby
decreasing tyre wear rates and increasing overall
tyre life.

This truism is important because with each tyre

costing roughly the same amount as a Mercedes
Benz, the cost of replacing haul road tyres is one
of the major expenditures in any mining operation.

Perhaps the most vital method to reduce tyre costs

is to improve the running surface of haul roads.
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5 COMMON HAUL ROAD CHALLENGES IN

HAUL ROAD CHALLENGE

#
4 ENVIRONMENTAL
IMPACTS
There is growing community and workforce concern about the health and environmental impacts
associated with particle emissions from mining.

The largest source of PM10 (particulate matter 10 micrometers or less in diameter)

from open-cut mining activities is haul trucks travelling on unpaved roads (40%), and the top three
activities are found to produce 75% of all PM10 emissions1.

SOLUTION:
Studies have shown that the best practice for dealing with PM10 dust from haul roads has been found to
be the application of suppressants1. As shown in the graph below, mobile dust monitoring trials measuring
PM10 levels on untreated haul roads, watered haul roads and roads treated with Dust-A-Side products
have also proven this.

It is becoming increasingly accepted across the mining industry that the correct use of dust suppressants
on haul roads will lead to a significant reduction in wheel generated dust emissions. At the same time,
 they will help to reduce reliance upon water for dust suppressant purposes; therefore helping to preserve
an increasingly scarce global resource.
It therefore follows that achieving a reduction in wheel generated dust on unpaved mine roads will have the
single biggest impact in reducing cumulative dust emissions from any mining operation. This will, in turn,
support the environmental sustainability of the operation and lessen any adverse health impacts upon both
workers and surrounding communities.

All mine sites have different operational requirements when it comes to reducing dust emissions and
conserving water use – it is therefore important to adopt a tailored approach to haul road dust control.

This will involve selecting the right product, application strategy and on-going road maintenance program
in order to derive optimal results.

You can learn more on this in our eBook: Dust Control Comparison Guide for Mine Roads.

MOBILE DUST MONITORING

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MOBILE DUST MONITORING TRIALS

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UNTREATED HAUL ROAD WATERED HAUL ROAD DAS HAUL ROAD

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Data Points Collected

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Data collected on an Australian coal mine over a six-week
period

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1.Katestone Environmental Pty Ltd, NSW Coal Mining Benchmarking Study: International Best Practice Measures to Prevent and/or Minimise Emissions
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CALL 1800 662 387

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5 COMMON HAUL ROAD CHALLENGES IN

HAUL ROAD
CHALLENGE #5
OPERATIONAL SAFETY
Haul road safety at mine sites is often a ‘feast or a famine’ scenario - the surface is either too dry and
dusty, or too wet from excessive watering in an effort to suppress dust.

Both aspects of haul road safety are problematic, however overwatering is of particular concern and often
leads to hazardous incidents such as:

> Out of control sliding and skidding

> Corner camber damage (sinking and rutting) > Rollovers
> Collisions on ramps
> Crashes into berms (bund walls)
> Impacts at intersections
> Collisions with the water trucks themselves
SOLUTION:
Creating safer roads lies with creating a more durable road surface that:
> Requires less watering to start with, and
> Is more impervious to the effects of overwatering.

Less frequent application of water for dust suppression purposes reduces the likelihood of uncontrolled
movements and the deterioration of haul roads, therefore making them safer for all road users.

2.Uncontrolled Movement on Mine Roads, Including Skidding, Sliding, and Light or Heavy Vehicle Roll-Over, Mines Safety Bulletin No.
99, 23 August 2010, Version 1
In fact, watering of untreated haul roads is the root-cause of 59% of reported uncontrolled vehicle
movements.2 So it’s logical to follow that reducing the need to water haul roads will reduce the risk of
uncontrolled movements and improve operational safety.

Once again, the best way to address this is to either stabilise the haul road by incorporating a binder
product into the surface wearing layer or use a spray-on dust suppression solution via a series of light
dilutions. Roads treated with such solutions will form a crust or impermeable seal that reduces dust and
mud generation.

They will also create a more consistent operating environment, reducing the risks to haul truck operators.

Finally, stabilised haul roads will also dry faster after rain compared to untreated surfaces, therefore
providing a higher level of surface friction more quickly.
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5 COMMON HAUL ROAD CHALLENGES IN

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laboratory testing of material and water samples
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At no charge to you, an engineer from our team will: solutions to meet your needs as well as proposed next
> Conduct a thorough inspection of your site steps
> Assess priority areas including roads, process
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