What a bad haul road really costs you

Every extra percent of rolling resistance on a haul road costs roughly the same as adding a percent of grade. On a long haul with a loaded fleet, a road that has been left to deteriorate for a fortnight can cut cycle rates by double digits.

The cost shows up in three places at once: slower cycles, higher fuel burn per tonne and faster tyre wear. Tyres alone usually justify the grader hire several times over.

Keeping a grader and a water tanker in continuous service on the haul network is not overhead. It is the cheapest production improvement available on most surface operations.

We hire graders and tankers on monthly contracts with on-site servicing so the road maintenance fleet is never the thing that is parked.