T ABLE OF CONTENTS

1.General......................................................................................................................................... 2
1.1Objective..................................................................................................................................... 2
1.2Design work................................................................................................................................ 2
1.2.1Access roads........................................................................................................................... 2
1.2.2Haul roads................................................................................................................................ 2
1.2.3Storm water management........................................................................................................3
1.3Surveys and information requirements.......................................................................................3
2.Methodology and Scope............................................................................................................... 4
2.1Schematic layout......................................................................................................................... 4
2.2Access roads design................................................................................................................... 4
2.2.1Access roads from public roads...............................................................................................4
2.2.2Internal access roads............................................................................................................... 5
2.2.3Internal maintenance roads.....................................................................................................5
2.3Haul road design......................................................................................................................... 5
2.4Storm water management design...............................................................................................7
2.5Geotechnical investigation.......................................................................................................... 8
2.6Topographic survey.................................................................................................................... 8
2.7Costing........................................................................................................................................ 8
3.Annexure 1................................................................................................................................. 10

1. General
1.1

Objective
The objective of the technical proposal for a feasibility study is to produce reports,
drawings, and engineering designs for the access roads, haul roads and storm water
management associated with the roads. The work will be done to a sufficient level of
detail to allow capital and operational cost estimates to be done to a reasonable level
of detail.
This proposal defines minimum information requirements and preliminary investigation
work that will be required for detailed design and drawing layouts for the access
roads, haul roads and storm water management. The requirements needs to be coordinated with similar requirements for the plant, mine plan and operations, workshop
and office facilities, water supply, waste water and sanitation and rail engineering and
design.

1.2

Design work

1.2.1

Access roads
The design/upgrade of access roads and roads within the plant and office/workshop
facilities (if not included in the design of these facilities) should include the following
elements:

1.2.2

Clearing of road reserves

Geometric design and alignment
Pavement design
Earthworks and retaining structures
Storm water management including drainage and culverts
Bridges (If required)
Service accommodation and relocation
Landscaping and vegetation
Traffic control including road signs and markings
Fencing and control of access to road reserve
Facilities where required

Haul roads
The design of haul roads will depend on the mine operations plan but should include
the following elements:
Clearing of road reserves
Geometric design and alignment with emphasis on horizontal and vertical
alignment, curves, safety berms and gradients
Pavement design
Earthworks and retaining structures
Storm water management including drainage and culverts
Bridges (If required)
Service accommodation and relocation
Landscaping and vegetation
Traffic control including road signs and markings

 Fencing and control of access to road reserve

Facilities where required
1.2.3

Storm water management

The storm water and drainage design will depend on the overall mine operations plan
and needs to be integrated in the total water management (water balance). The
design of the storm water management and drainage should include the following
elements:

1.3

Hydrological survey
Geo-hydrological survey
Assessment of design storms and intensities for different return periods
Assessment of potential run-off for different areas on the property
Culverts and drainage channels
Bridges (if needed)
Sub surface drainage and control
Separation of run-off from clean and dirty areas
Erosion protection and control
Containment areas for dirty water
Exclusion and/or management of surface water run-off in operational areas
Pumping stations and return water pipe lines if required

Surveys and information requirements

To support the design process, ancillary information will need to be obtained. The
surveys and information gathering must be coordinated with other design activities.
Information and surveys should include but not necessarily limited to the following:
Traffic surveys
Estimates of future traffic flows based on the mine operations plan and general
development of the area
Geotechnical surveys
Material source investigations for earthworks
Geological survey (tied to the 2 surveys above and could be sourced from the
exploration drilling that has taken place)
Hydrological survey
Geo-hydrological survey
Rainfall records
Topographic surveys
Climate and vegetation (input from environmental studies)
Aerial and satellite photographs/images
Existing charts and maps
Cadastral information (if needed)
Health, safety and quality requirements
Mozambiquecan laws, regulations, standards and specifications
Human resource requirements

2. Methodology and Scope

2.1

Schematic layout
Figure 1 Schematic layout of haul roads and river diversions

Legend:
Blue river diversion
Purple haul road

Access roads are not indicated in the layout above. The river diversion will be
discussed in a separate document. The haul roads are extensive but the lack of
topographical detail precludes a more detail approach.
2.2

Access roads design

A number of access and internal roads will be required for the project. These should
include but is not limited to the following:
Access roads from existing public roads
Internal access roads between the plant, workshops and office facilities
Internal maintenance roads

2.2.1

Access roads from public roads

The design of the roads will be influenced and subject to the standards, specifications
and requirements of the Mozambique Roads Authority.
Mozambique is a member of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
SADC has instituted a number of initiatives of which the SATTC-TU (Southern African
Transport and Telecommunications Committee Transport Utility?) is one. The
SATTC-TU has developed and is busy developing standards and specifications for
application in the SADC countries. A number of these documents exist and will be

utilised as references for the design of access roads. Further standards,

specifications and guidelines are provided by ASANRA (Association of Southern
African National Road Agencies).
The standards and specifications mentioned above is based to a large extent on the
South African TRH (Technical Recommendations for Highways) and TMH (Technical
Methods for Highways) documents and will be utilised for as additional sources for the
access road designs.
The geometric design will be based on the Geometric Design standard of SATTC-TU
and the South African Geometric Design Manual.
Pavement design will be based on a mechanistic design approach as contained in the
TRH 4 Structural design of inter-urban and rural roads as modified for
Mozambique requirements. It is recommended that the access road be surfaced.
Software applications Mepads, trafPADS and WinDCP will be utilised in the design.
Drainage and storm water management for the access roads will be in accordance
with the SANRAL (South African National Roads Agency Limited) Drainage Manual
as modified by the SATTC-TU documents.
Prerequisites for the access road design will consist of traffic survey, topographical
survey, geotechnical survey, hydrological survey and material source investigation.
2.2.2

Internal access roads

Internal access roads will be designed on the same basis as the external access
roads utilising the same methodologies, standards and specifications but with due
regard for the vehicle traffic as estimated from the mine operations plan.
It is recommended that the internal access roads be surfaced for safety, economical
and maintenance reasons.
The same prerequisites as for the external access roads will be applicable.

2.2.3

Internal maintenance roads

Maintenance roads will be required for access to plant and facilities that cannot be
reached from internal access roads e.g. pumping stations, magazines, conveyors etc.
The geometric design will be based on the Geometric Design standard of SATTC-TU
and TMH 4 geometric design standards for rural two lane two way roads and TRH
17 Geometric design of rural roads.
Pavement design will be based on a mechanistic design approach as contained in the
TRH 20 Structural design, construction and maintenance of unpaved roads as
modified for Mozambique requirements.
Drainage and storm water management for the maintenance roads will be in
accordance with TRH 20 as modified by the SATTC-TU documents.
Prerequisites for the maintenance road design will consist of topographical survey,
geotechnical survey, hydrological survey and material source investigation.

2.3

Haul road design

Haul roads are an important element of the mine operations and must contribute to
effective and efficient transport of the coal from the mine to the plant area. These

haul roads tend to be the lifeline of the production system and road problems will
immediately impact on the productivity and/or costs of the mine.
The design of the haul roads depend on the mine operations plan regarding vehicle
sizes and number that will be utilised and on the availability of construction material.
Material selection for the haul road layers will be done in accordance with TRH 14
Guidelines for road construction materials as modified for site conditions and material
availability.
Geometric and structural design and storm water management will be done in
accordance with best practices as established in the design of various coal mine haul
roads with reference to the following publications:
Guidelines for Mine Haul Road design - Dwayne D. Tannant & Bruce
Regensburg
Designing and managing unpaved opencast mine haul roads for optimum
performance - R. J. Thompson and A. T. Visser
Design of Surface Mine Haulage Roads - A Manual - Walter W. Kaufman and
James C. Ault
Figure 2 below show typical structural designs for two different sizes of vehicles.

Figure 2 Typical structural designs for haul roads

Prerequisites for the haul road design will consist of mine operations plan,
topographical survey, geotechnical survey, hydrological survey and material source
investigation.
2.4

Storm water management design

Storm water management will need to be integrated with the water balance for the
total operations.
Drainage and storm water management for the roads have been discussed in the
relevant sections.
Rainfall and storm records for the area need to be acquired as part of the hydrological
survey. Subsurface drainage will be determined from the geo-hydrological survey,
environmental studies and the geological survey.
Figure 3 below provides high level data from Tete Township which is close to the site.

Figure 3 Average temperatures and rainfall

Historical Meteorological and Climatological Data for Mozambique (1909-1968) can be

obtained from the NOAA Central Library Climate Data Imaging Project for Mozambique.
This data can be used for modelling of rainfall events, design intensities and run-off for
various return periods. A 30 year data set of rainfall events is available from the Rainfall
Extraction Utility for Southern Africa and monthly data is appended in Annexure 1.

The EPA SWMM, HEC HMS, HEC SSP, rational method and maximum design
flood software and techniques will be utilised in the design of storm water
management. The drainage manuals referred in the sections on road design will be
used as supplementary sources of information and methodologies.
Prerequisites for the storm water management design will consist of topographical
survey, hydrological survey and information investigation.
2.5

Geotechnical investigation
A geotechnical investigation is of the utmost importance and the methodology
proposed by Arcus Gibb in Section 3.5 of their document Revuboe Mine Project
Feasibility Study Rail Proposal should be implemented.

2.6

Topographic survey
An aerial topographic survey followed by detail conventional surveys is an important
prerequisite for the proposals.

2.7

Costing
Due to the many unknown parameters it is almost impossible to provide ballpark cost
estimates within an acceptable uncertainty envelope.
The cost of the roads depend on many factors such as local labour cost, material
availability and cost, design standards etc to name but a few.
As an example the following costs from some recent projects show the wide variance
and uncertainty;
Access roads R 500 000 to R 2.5 million per km according to geometry, standards
and material.

Haul roads R 15 million to R 30 million per km depending on all the local factors.
Gravel roads R 50 000 to R 1.5 million per km according to function.
It is not possible to venture any cost estimate on storm water management as the
unknown variables are too many.

3. Annexure 1
Rainfall data Rainfall extraction utility
Mean monthly

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Ann

Chosen location -99.9 -99.9 -99.9 -99.9 -99.9 -99.9 -99.9 -99.9 -99.9 -99.9 -99.9 -99.9 -999.0
Climate station -99.9 -99.9 -99.9 -99.9 -99.9 -99.9 -99.9 -99.9 -99.9 -99.9 -99.9 -99.9 -999.0
Adjustment fact 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000
1.000

9
1952 -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M 2.0 28.4 71.2 107.4
209.0U
9

1953 306.6 298.6 74.8 12.9

.7

1954 64.0 102.0 13.3

1955 181.6 176.3

1956 54.5 214.3 43.4 46.4

.5

1957 147.1 128.0 63.4 65.8

4.2

1958 230.3 273.8 60.9

.4

.0 15.0

1959 163.9 224.0

8.0

.6

.0

1960 106.2 83.3 169.5

.4

2.4 13.5

1961 147.3 97.0 106.1 15.9

1.7

1962 367.9 58.8 84.8 25.1

1963 53.1 289.3 40.9

3.2

.1

8.3 -99.9M

3.3

4.9

.0
.0

.0

1.4

1.9
3.8

.0

1.6

.0

5.0
.0

2.0 89.6 174.7 644.4U

.0 152.2 137.4 652.7

.0

.0

1.2 37.2 86.9 535.4

6.8

9.6

.1 58.0 83.2 738.5

5.1 20.8

.0

2.1 54.8 131.1 617.6

.4

7.2

.7

.0

.0 59.2 281.5 1048.9

.9 10.8 83.1 187.8 466.6

4.3
.2

6.4

3.8

.0

8.0

2.5 16.6 310.2 716.4

.0

5.8

1.6

.2

.6 49.8 54.5 480.5

3.8

1.4

3.2

1.3

.1

2.3 86.0 248.7 883.4

5.8

4.3

7.0

4.4

.0

1964 190.9 17.5 13.4

.0

.3

.3

1965 130.7 209.6 119.1

9.6

2.7

1966 133.1 350.6 84.4

.7

.3

1967 191.6 58.2 348.0

4.8

3.1

1.1

1968 172.5 137.9 15.6 27.1

4.6

9.5

1969 194.5 56.3 159.5 21.8

.0

.5

1970 99.9 68.9

8.8 17.2

.3

3.8

5.0

6.3
4.0

1.7

.3
5.7

.0
.1

.8

.8 50.7 45.2 501.5

.0 56.9 128.6 416.8

3.0 13.1

6.6 83.6 585.4

.0

.7

.9

9.0

1.5

.0 49.9 56.3 724.4

.0

1.0

.3

.0 26.2 140.3 535.0

1.8

3.6

.0 14.9 32.9 344.2 830.0

1.3

.0

.0

1.8 31.9 63.5 676.7

.0 136.4 151.2 485.7

9
1971 -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M
-99.9M -99.9U

9
1972 -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M
-99.9M -99.9U
9
1973 -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M
-99.9M -99.9U
9

1974 170.4 210.3 62.1 54.0 21.0

1975 98.7 122.1 38.3

1976 89.4 171.0 194.4 12.4 34.0

1977 113.0 145.6 145.3

1978 331.7 95.5 227.4 15.3

1979 48.4 88.7 120.3

1980 163.3 111.6 53.5 32.6

3.2

1.7

3.4

.7

.0

.7
4.1

3.4 15.6
.2

1.1

.9

1.1

.0

.3 10.0
.1 11.2
3.0

.2

.0 90.6 38.1 132.2 528.4

.0

.0

4.1

5.8

.4 74.2 171.1 662.3

.0

.0

.0 11.5 182.1 879.8

6.0
1.0

1.7

.3 17.9 117.2 247.6 920.5

.0

6.9

.3

.8

2.0

5.8

7.3 105.8 622.1

7.5 69.8 84.2 434.9

.8 21.0 156.6 553.8

9
1981 -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M
-99.9M -99.9U
9
1982 -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M
-99.9M -99.9U
9
1983 -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M
-99.9M -99.9U
9
1984 -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M
-99.9M -99.9U
9
1985 -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M
-99.9M -99.9U
9
1986 -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M
-99.9M -99.9U
9
1987 -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M
-99.9M -99.9U
9
1988 -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M
-99.9M -99.9U
9
1989 -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M
-99.9M -99.9U
9
1990 -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M
-99.9M -99.9U
9
9
80.8U

1991 110.1 204.5 47.6 25.8

.9

.3

1.0

.4

.0 17.7 34.2 91.2 533.7

1992 -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M

1993 227.5 217.0 15.0 20.1

1994 116.0 49.8 30.3

2.4

.0
.0

2.2
.0

2.7
.9

1.8
.0

.0

.0

.0 80.8 -99.9M

1.9 108.0 48.9 645.1

3.2 82.8 18.4 71.4 375.2

1995 181.2

8.6 17.9

.6

.3

1996 85.8 199.1 47.5

1997 236.0 418.5 105.7 174.6

1998 -99.9M -99.9M 24.5

1999 292.1 138.9 62.8

1.6

4.8 25.7

1.6
6.1

.0

.4

.0 15.6

1.8 354.3 582.3

7.0

9.1

.0

.0 12.0 10.5 141.8 543.3

.0

.2

5.6

.2

5.6

8.7 36.0 89.1 1080.2

.0

1.1

.6

2.1

.0

.1 116.9 272.5 419.4U

.5

4.2

6.0

.2 -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M -99.9M 510.8U