Kiepersol Mine Piet Retief – Haul Roads
| A coal export mine under construction in the Piet Retief area is connected to a Provincial Road by an un-surfaced road (some 17kms and with a substantial clay content) which is subject to storm damage and flooding. Interlink trucks with a payload of 60 tons use this road for continuous hauling (a fleet of some 15 trucks) of coal to the Piet Retief railhead on the Richards Bay Coal Export rail.During the rainy season this unpaved road needs continuous grading and extensive repair and often becomes dangerous and unserviceable.The Owners – Jindal Mining Africa – commissioned Global Civil Solutions to design a road which in the initial stages will be stabilized but un-surfaced with the intention to tar the roadway once the cash flow from this mine is self-sufficient.
Project modus operandi Phase one was constructed at the primary haul section (200 trucks per day) which consists of a 250mm in-situ material layer stabilized with 4% ANSS. This was executed during the rainy season of 2009 / 2010. The road is now in the second rainy season and has performed exceptionally well under the harsh environment – it has been maintenance free and constantly trafficable. |
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| Unstabilzed road dry conditions |
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| Stabilized road in wet conditions, after constant use. |
Saving using ANSS over alternative designs.
Enviromental Savings
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Soil characteristics for kiepersol
| Course |
(%) |
PI(%) | TRH 14Classification | MDD (kg/m3) | OMC (%) | |
| 25cm road | 2.4 | 12 | G6 | 2124 | 11.1 |
Improvement in engineering characteristics using ANSS
| CBR @ % MOD
AASHTO |
Platform Natural | Platform with 2% ANSS | |
| 95 | 25 | 200 (lab. tested) | |
| 98 | 37 | 260 (lab. tested) | |
| CBR @ 40 days @98% MODAASHTO | 98 | Average CBR134 | |
| TRH 14 classification | G6 | G4 |