Mining Haul Roads: Theory and Practice

Mining haul roads are a critical component of surface mining infrastructure and the performance of these roads has a direct impact on operational efficiency, costs and safety. A significant proportion of a mine’s cost is associated with material haulage and well-designed and managed roads contribute directly to reductions in cycle times, fuel burn, tyre costs and overall cost per tonne hauled and critically, underpin a safe transport system.

The first comprehensive treatise on mining haul road design, construction, operation and management, Mining Haul Roads – Theory and Practice presents an authoritative compendium of worldwide experience and state-of-the-art practices developed and applied over the last 25 years by the three authors, over three continents and many of the world’s leading surface mining operations. In this book, the authors:

• Introduce the four design components of an integrated design methodology for mining haul roads – geometric (including drainage), structural, functional and maintenance management
• Illustrate how mine planning constraints inform road design requirements
• Develop the analytical framework for each of the design components from their theoretical basis, and using typical mine-site applications, illustrate how site-specific design guidelines are developed, together with their practical implementation
• Summarise the key road safety and geometric design considerations specific to mining haul roads
• Specify the mechanistic structural design approach unique to ultra-heavy wheel loading associated with OTR mine trucks
• Describe the selection, application and management of the road wearing course material, together with its rehabilitation, including the use of palliatives
• Develop road and operating cost models for estimating total road-user costs, based on road rolling resistance measurement and modelling techniques
• Illustrate the approach of costing a mining road construction project based on the design methodologies previously introduced
• List and describe future trends in mine haulage system development, how mining haul road design will evolve to meet these new system challenges and how the increasing availability of data is used to manage road performance and ultimately provide 24x7 trafficability.

is a complete practical reference for mining operations, contractors and mine planners alike, as well as civil engineering practitioners and consulting engineers. It will also be invaluable in other fields of transportation infrastructure provision and for those seeking to learn and apply the state-of-the-art in mining haul roads.

“This book is the most definitive treatise on mining haul roads ever written […] There has never been a text that addresses the many facets of mining haul roads on such a scope […]” From the Foreword by Jim Humphrey, Professional Engineer, Autonomous haulage systems developer and Distinguished Member of the Society of Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration.

Roger Thompson has over 25 years industry and academic experience in the field of surface mine haul road design, construction and management. He is Professor of Mining Engineering at the WA School of Mines, Kalgoorlie, Australia. Roger has undertaken numerous contract research and consulting assignments, centred on surface mining transportation and the provision, rehabilitation or improved design and management of mine haul roads for many of the world’s leading surface mining operations. He is the co-author of numerous peer reviewed publications in the field of mine haul road design and also runs Australian and International professional development and accredited training courses in mine road design, construction and management. He is the author of the 2011 Society of Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME) Mining Engineering Handbook contribution on road design, construction and management for mines.
Roger graduated from Camborne School of Mines in 1984 and 1990 with Bachelors and Masters degrees in mining and gained his Doctorate through the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Pretoria. Roger has worked in gold- and coal-mining production, qualifying as a mine manager, as an academic at the University of Pretoria and as guest researcher at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health – Spokane Research Laboratory (USA) and at Colorado School of Mines, as a Fulbright Scholar.

Rodrigo Peroni is a Mining Engineer, graduated in 1994, finished his Master´s in Resources and Reserves Assessment in 1998, finished his PhD in Mine Planning in 2002 and his Pos-Doctoral in Remote Sensing in 2016. Rodrigo has over 20 years of Mining Experience, worked with aggregates, industrial minerals and gold during his professional life until 2006 when left the industry as a Chief Engineer of the Mine Planning and Geology Department of Rio Paracatu Mineração (Kinross Gold Corporation) to join the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul at the Mining Engineering Department as a professor. During his academic history Rodrigo is author and co-author of a number of peer reviewed papers, attended and presented several papers in conferences worldwide and supervised several master´s and PhD students. Currently Rodrigo´s research areas are mainly related to mine planning and design, reserves assessment, equipment and fleet sizing, haul road design and UAV applications to mining. He is member of professional associations worldwide (AusIMM, SAIMM, CBRR).

retired as the SA Roads Board Professor in Transportation Engineering in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Pretoria in 2009 after a career in research (20 years) and 21 years in academia. His fields of research interest are low volume road design and maintenance and at the other extreme roads for ultra-heavy applications such as mine dump trucks at surface mines and Reachstackers at container terminals, interlocking block paving as well as cast in-situ patented block paving, and road asset management systems. He has published more than 160 peer-reviewed papers and 5 keynote addresses and lectures internationally on these topics. Besides publishing he also serves as reviewer for a number of international journals. He continues guiding graduate students at the University of Pretoria and has a part-time appointment, as well as part-time Adjunct Professor appointments at Chang’an University, Xi’an, and Fuzhou University, China since 2017. Since retiring he has also provided advice on projects around the world, including developing procedures for truckless mining, also known as in-pit crushing and conveying. He is a Fellow and Past-President of the South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) and a Fellow of the South African Academy of Engineering.