One could think of a haul road as just a dusty path that just serves one end, and that is to relocate the mined ore from one location to a new. But that dirty road is the artery of the total operation. Devoid of that dusty haul road a mining company would almost immediately pass on. To care for the road is in essence the same as caring for one's personal physical condition.
We know what occurs when our arteries stop operating properly, but what happens when a haul road is not maintained properly.
On a normal haulage road you may have haulage trucks traveling day and night. Several haulage roads have as many as 500 trucks for every day. While others could have fewer trucks but the trucks they do own are many times bigger as well as heavier. Once more many of the operations are 24 hours each day every day with no occasion for stopping and re-starting.
While you have continuous traffic on these roads you have got to do something to eradicate the dust. Many of these haul roads are greater than 5 miles long and on average 50 feet wide. Every one of these roads may require around one gallon per square yard each day to keep the dust down. If one was to work out these numbers you will find that a normal haul road dust control program will require millions of gallons of water each week. In some locations water is a very valued commodity that should be preserved whenever feasible not only for the availability yet also for the expense of acquisition. Just ask yourself, what would your water statement be like if you used over a million gallons each and every week?
As the Haulage road is watered to maintain manageable levels of fugitive dust, the road will start to erode. This erosion will cause pot holes and new imperfections that over time may cause the road to be un-drivable. Not only will this turn into a awfully irregular road, but those circumstances will furthermore cause premature failure to the haulage trucks.
What's more, the cost of maintaining haulage trucks increases considerably when they have to run in a dusty location. There are lots of parts on a truck that break down faster when they are bounded by dust. The engine will ingest dust from the haul road which will predictably end up in the engine oil, therefore causing a premature failure of the truck and thousands of dollars in upkeep.
Maintaining a haulage truck is not a uncomplicated duty. You could envision having to change a tire that is 10 feet high. The annual expense to operate these behemoths is greater than most American families take home in five years. If you can lessen that expense you will be saving the corporation huge amounts of capital that could be directed at something more constructive.
Alleviating these costs is very straightforward. One merely needs to use a efficient road dust control plan that not only regulates the dust yet will in addition add a elevated level of erosion control. The more successful programs may in fact transform the old dusty dirt road into a hard stabilized driving surface similar to many asphalt roads. This in turn will abolish the need for water as a dust control agent and will deliver a very level dust free driving surface that lowers the expense of operating the million dollar trucks.
Adding all these savings together will easily help a mining operation lower their operating expenses to the point where the dust control program has paid for itself within a year's time and the resources from such can subsequently be added to the bottom line.
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