The nearly 20 km of permanent haul roads stabilized with ROAD//STABILIZR® in August of 2014 continue to perform as promised for the Shenhua Group’s open pit coal mine near Xilinhote, Inner Mongolia, in Northern China. 19.8 km of ROAD//STABILIZR® stabilized haul roads were built over 15 months ago now and therefore have been subjected to the harsh Inner Mongolian winter and the two distinct rainy seasons regularly experienced in the region, and continue to exhibit significantly improved engineering properties. Weather conditions aside, considering the roads are subjected to a constant flow of 250 ton (when empty) haul truck traffic, and the original untreated clay soil is considered to have marginal engineering properties at best, the results speak volumes to the performance characteristics of ROAD//STABILIZR® stabilized materials.
ROAD//STABILIZR® stabilization results in high clay content soils with increased density and CBR (California Bearing Ratio) results, as well as significantly reduced swelling potential. These combined soil stabilization properties provide for enhanced engineering performance and user experience on the treated roads. Ultimately for the Shenhua Group, this means less maintenance, higher performance out of their haul trucks (due to reduced rolling resistance), and the elimination for a need to use water for dust control. All of this equates to huge operational savings for the mine, which is instrumental in being able to cut costs during the current low prices of coal in today’s market. These savings ultimately are achieved through savings in the fuel costs to operate their graders (that do the bulk of road maintenance at mines) and of course to operate their water trucks, not to mention the savings in water that results.
Cypher Environmental and our Chinese distributors, Beijing STS Instrument Co., continue to enjoy a mutually beneficial relationship with Shenhua Group due to the benefits achieved through ROAD//STABILIZR®’s implementation at the mine in Inner Mongolia. Please see the picture below from early November 2015, for an example of the current state of the ROAD//STABILIZR® stabilized haul roads at Shenhua, and please see past posts for more information regarding the project. Click Here
For more information on ROAD//STABILIZR®’s unique clay stabilization properties, or on how you can introduce ROAD//STABILIZR® to benefit your roads, please contact us.