Africa  Status  Quo  

  Challenges  

  Approach  

  Cos5ng  OPEX  &  CAPEX  

  Life  cycle  cos5ng  

  Conclusion  

PRESENTATION  CONTENT  

Evalua5ng  alterna5ve  railway  route  alignments  

Gauge:

1 067 mm

1 000 mm

1 435 mm

80 000 km - 7% of World total

THE  CHALLENGE  TO  MINING  COMPANIES……  

•  The  logis4cal  solu4on  to  export/import  bulk  commodi4es  from  mines  

•  First  order  studies  on  the  logis4cal  solu4on  to  validate  the  viability  of  the  mine.        

Bulk Material Handling Chain

Railway: Mainline Mine

Arrivals/Dep Yard

Stockpile

Load-out

Conveyor

Loop

Telecomms& Signaling

Workshops

Buildings/Depots

Crossing loops

Port

Arrivals/Dep Yard

Shiploader

Stockpile

Tippler

Conveyor

Conveyor

Loop

Stacker Reclaimers

•  Design  traffic  

•  Track  gauge  

•  Track  geometry  -­‐    ruling  grades,  radii  

•  Earthworks  

•  Track  Superstructure  

•  etc.  

ESTABLISHING  THE  DESIGN  PRINCIPLES/CRITERIA  

METHODOLOGY  IN  ESTABLISHING  A  ROUTE  ALIGNMENT  

•  Global  Mapper  (SRTM  data  Spa4al  informa4on);  

•  Google  Earth;  

•  Map  Source;    

•  Trimble  –  op4miza4on  soSware,  and  

•  Design  soSware  such  as  Inrail,  Civil  Designer,  Civil  3D,  etc.  

36 Routes Considered

LONG  SECTIONS  

AERIAL  SURVEY  

LIDAR  system  

SRTM  VS  LIDAR  SURVEY  

MASS  EARTHWORKS  

Cuts & Fills

1  

2  

3  

4  

Bridges 1  

2  

3  

4  

ALIGNMENT  COMPARISON  SUMMARY  

Route Characteristic 1 2 3 4 5 Total Route Length To Nkaya Junction Highest route elevat ion

Special Structures Total Length of Special Structures

Small Medium River

Crossings Large

Road Crossings

Number of bridges:

Total bridges Culverts

Cut volumes (Million) Earthworks quantities Fill volumes (Million)

% of earthworks compared to 2006 s tudy Max Grade in Loaded Direction Max Grade in Empty Direction

Route topography

CONSIST  SIZING  (MIN  CONT  SPEED  25.3  KPH)  

CROSSING  LOOP  LOCATIONS    

LIFE  CYCLE  COST  COMPARISON  OF  ALTERNATIVE  ALIGNMENTS  

CAPEX  Examples  :  • Locomo4ves;  

• Wagons;  

• Rail  Yard;  and  • Track,  etc.  

OPEX  examples:  • Crewing;  • Fuel;  • Locomo4ve  maintenance;  

• Wagon  maintenance;  

• Yard  maintenance;  and  

• Business  overheads.  

OVERALL  MCA  SCORES    

1   2   3   4   5  

PRESENT  VALUE  (PV)  EVALUATION  

1        2        3      4    5  

CONCLUSION  

Satellite  data  can  be  used  very  effec4vely  in  a  first  order  geometric  design  study  to  establish  a  viable  horizontal  and  ver4cal  rail  alignment  along  with  the  associated  infrastructure  cost  such  as  earthworks,  bridges,  drainage,  trackwork,  etc.    

The  analysis  showed  allows  the  mining  companies  to  make  important  decisions  regarding  the  viability  of  the  mine  i.e.  the  dollar  rate  per  tonne  to  import/export  the  bulk  commodity.      

This  may  prompt  further  studies  or  maybe,  more  importantly,  stop  the  mine  from  spending  unnecessary  further  capital  on  detailed  studies  that  may  include  costly  topographical  or  geotechnical  surveys.