Prefeasibility Access Road Design-Revised
2
Objective
The objectives of the
prefeasibility phase of
the road design are to
provide preliminary
design and economic
analysis of the access
route for the mine
while considering:
public and RER safety,
cost, environmental
impacts, construction
or operational
complexities, area of
impact, and proximity
to adjacent
populations and
potential for dust
generation.
Access Road
Design-Revised
for Rare Element Resources, LTD.
I
INTRODUCTION
Project Location, History and Understanding
Rare Element Resources is a publically traded company
created for the development of a rare-earth-element (REE)
mining operation. The mining will be performed at the Bull
Hill Mine of the Bear Lodge Project which is located in the
Bear Lodge Mountains of Crook County, Wyoming. The
processing facility (Hydromet Plant) is located near Upton, in
Weston County, Wyoming. The REE mineral pre-concentrate
will be transported by truck from the mine to the Hydromet
Plant in Upton. A safe road is needed to haul the product over
the approximate 40 mile distance. HDR|Stetson Engineering
previously conducted an access route assessment which
evaluated eleven possible routes. From this assessment, it
was determined that the best route for transport would be
either the Miller Creek Road or the Warren Peak Road. This
revised pre-feasibility study has taken the process a step
farther to look at the impacts made by the two routes. The
alignments and profiles were revised to make improvements
to the geometry and improve the safety on the roadway. The
typical section was revised for safety, reduction in impacts,
and improvements for snow considerations. HDR|Stetson
Engineering also performed an AutoTURN analysis of the
roadway using a computer model of the design vehicle as well
as hydraulic analysis to size drainage structures for the two
roadway options. Lastly, a survey was completed to verify the
ability of the FUGRO flight data to represent the ground
surface in the timbered area for use in the final design.
