The Gobi desert is a rain shadow desert formed by the Himalaya mountains, which blocks rain carrying clouds from entering the desert and causes massive amounts of dust to be generated in the Gobi on an annual basis. A solution was desperately needed for dust control and soil stabilization on a coal mine haul road that stretches over 100km-long, which hauls coal from Southern Mongolia into Northern China.
In May of 2009, tests were carried out using two of Cypher Environmental’s 100% environmentally friendly soil stabilization and dust control products, EarthZyme and Dust Stop, both of which had overwhelming success.
On average, 300 trucks weighing 100t each travel back and forth from Mongolia to China on a daily basis using the haul road, which is why dust control and soil stabilization were of such a major concern. A demonstration was carried out on 500m of the mine haul road using EarthZyme to help stabilize the soil and reduce the dust.
EarthZyme significantly increases the strength of a treated soil, and reduces the maintenance requirements and costs, as well as providing some dust control benefits. The results of the demonstration were so good that the mine followed up the demonstration by completing another 10km of EarthZyme roads last year and has several more kilometers slated to be built this year using EarthZyme.
Due to the poor soil conditions in the Gobi, it has proven to be extremely difficult to build a satisfactory road, which is why EarthZyme has been meticulously chosen as the preferred aid in environmental soil stabilization methods in the region due to the great results it provides.
A demonstration with Dust Stop was also carried out at the mine camp for dust control around all the housing units where the mine staff live while working at the mine site. Due to the high winds prevalent in the Gobi, large amounts of dust are constantly blowing around the mine camp, which is a risk to the health and safety of the workers. Dust Stop was used as a dust suppressant solution to control this dust and keep it from circulating in dangerous levels around the camp.
Both products proved highly valuable for dust control and soil stabilization results, and were more than capable of handling the harsh Gobi conditions. For more information on Dust Stop and EarthZyme, please visit our website.