Mine Manager’s Playbook Series Haul roads look simple. They are not. They are the biggest hidden cost centre in open-pit mining. A shovel can be world-class. A fleet can be brand new. Explosives can be perfect. But if the haul road is bad, the mine becomes slow, expensive, and unproductive — every single hour. The Financial Truth No One Talks About Every 1% increase in rolling resistance causes 10% loss in truck productivity. Just one soft patch, one wet curve, one ungraded segment… and your entire fleet behaves underpowered. You won’t see this in fuel sheets. You won’t see it in daily MIS. You’ll only see it in the total cycle time, the silent killer of mine economics. Where Haul Roads Drain Money 1️⃣ Fuel Burn Bad roads increase diesel consumption by 15–35%. Multiply that by 20–30 trucks and the numbers become brutal. 2️⃣ Payload Loss Operators start playing safe. “Almost full loads” replace full loads. You lose BCM quietly. 3️⃣ Tyre Life Crash Rough roads kill tyres 40–60% faster. Each tyre costs USD 3,000–5,000. A road can wipe out your tyre budget faster than any operator mistake. 4️⃣ Shovel Starvation Slow trucks → empty shovels → lost tonnes → lost month-end targets. 5️⃣ Maintenance Backlog More braking = more heat = more failures. Your workshop gets punished for road issues. The Core Science A Mine Manager must master one chain: Geometry → Rolling Resistance → Speed → Cycle Time → Cost/BCM → Profitability Fix this chain and your mine performance transforms. Four Engineering Truths • Geometry: Gradient, curvature, super-elevation. A truck runs on engineering, not hope. • Surface Quality: Corrugation, ruts, potholes — these are cost signals, not “road conditions.” • Width & Berms: If operators feel unsafe, they reduce speed. Safety and speed go together. • Drainage: Water destroys most haul roads. Poor drainage destroys the rest. The Behaviour Side (Most Ignored) Good road design loses 50% of value if behaviour is poor: – lane discipline – over-speeding on straights – shortcuts on curves – inconsistent water bowser cycles – reactive grading instead of scheduled grading Road science is half engineering, half discipline. The Most Important KPI in Open-Pit Mining Not fuel burn. Not tyre cost. Not tonnes per hour. It’s “Average Speed on Loaded Haul.” Increase it by even 1 km/h, and your mine’s monthly profit moves instantly. Mine Manager’s Non-Negotiables ✔ Grade every shift ✔ Maintain drainage religiously ✔ Enforce lane discipline ✔ Prevent truck queues at shovel ✔ Measure rolling resistance weekly ✔ Audit roads using drones ✔ Make road quality a production KPI Because the truth is simple: Mines rarely lose money in digging. They lose it on the road.