Why Fugitive Dust Control is Vital for Air Quality and Mining Operations
Mines and associated industrial sites are required to implement some level of fugitive dust control.
Service: Dust & Sand Management
Tiny Particles, Big Risks: Manage Dust & Sand for Better Operations
Improve safety, comfort and operations by managing unruly dust or sand
Dust and sand aren’t just nuisances, they’re operational risks that threaten safety, compliance and productivity.
Our team combines decades of experience with advanced modeling and real-world testing to deliver site-specific solutions that keep fine particles in check. We help you mitigate wind-blown dust and sand with smart, science-driven strategies that boost safety, reduce downtime, and safeguard your reputation.
How we help
We use advanced modeling to analyze wind patterns and site context to predict how particles move across your facility. Backed by decades of experience, our solutions are tested, proven, and built to perform.
Wind-blown dust
Dust emissions from roads, drilling, blasting, and material handling isn’t just a safety hazard, it’s also a compliance risk in today’s tightly highly regulated environment. We help you stay compliant and operational with site-specific strategies that reduce dust at the source.
We analyze how wind interacts with your site and materials to predict, quantify, and control airborne particles. Our recommendations are tailored, practical, and built for real-world conditions, while being easy to understand, apply, and maintain.
Speak with a dust management consultantWind-blown sand
Wind-blown sand can disrupt operations, blocking access paths, roads and rail lines, infiltrate into buildings, and damage façades. We help you stay ahead with climate-responsive design and mitigation strategies that keep roads, rail lines, and buildings clear.
By modeling wind patterns and predicting sand movement, we pinpoint high-risk zones and recommend smart, site-specific solutions that reduce buildup, erosion, and downtime. Reduce inconvenience, operational problems, and safety hazards, ensuring your facility stays efficient, accessible, and protected.
Speak with a sand management expertHow our dust & sand management services can benefit your project
Smart solutions that are simple to apply, scale, and sustain
We deliver practical, cost-effective strategies to control dust and sand, designed to be easy to understand, implement, and maintain. With deep expertise and a fresh perspective, we can spot innovative solutions that others overlook, especially in complex, high-stakes environments.
Airborne dust— especially fine particles less than 10 microns (PM10) —can pose serious health threats, entering deep into the lungs causing lasting harm. When dust contains heavy metals or other toxins the danger grows, for both workers and surrounding communities. Our solutions help you reduce exposure and safeguard health.
Ambient dust is heavily regulated, and non-compliance can mean costly delays or shutdowns. Whether you’re building, operating, or expanding, we help you meet air quality standards with proven strategies tailored to your site.
Dust doesn’t just pollute; it disrupts operations and wastes valuable materials. Our site-specific plans reduce downtime and material loss, keeping your project lean, clean, and running smoothly.
With advanced modeling and site-specific dust control strategies, we help you minimize airborne pollutants and meet environmental regulations, while safeguarding communities, ecosystems, and your brand reputation.
Central & South America
Antamina Mines
Air quality and dust control support for a large copper and zinc mine
United States
William Beaumont Army Medical Center (Fort Bliss)
A military hospital where evidence-based design supports patient-centered care
Canada
Iron Ore Company of Canada Operations
Advanced air quality modeling for a major iron ore operation
FAQs about our dust and sand management services
Still have questions? Contact us.
Airborne dust particles, particularly those finer than 10 microns in diameter (PM10), are significant because they can penetrate deep into the lungs and impair respiratory processes, posing health risks.
It is not unusual for industrial or mining facilities to generate dust in their day-to-day operations such as traffic on unpaved roads; drilling and blasting; and handling of raw materials or finished products (e.g. crushing, screening, stockpiling, loading/unloading). However, effectively controlling the dust generated, using the most efficient means possible, is the goal to ensure both facility success, and the health of workers and surrounding communities.
Wind-blown sand can accumulate in undesirable locations, blocking access to egress paths, critical services, or transport routes. Sand may even infiltrate into buildings, accumulating in ways that cause inconvenience, risk, or expense. Freely blowing sand may irritate patrons trying to enjoy outside spaces or, in harsher conditions, damage façade materials. The erosion of sand can also cause issues by weakening support structures. These problems can be minimized or avoided completely with a design and operational plan that is responsive to the local climate.
Understanding local wind patterns and meteorology can predict how sand will be picked up, carried, and dropped by the wind near your structure is vital to effectively improve conditions in critical locations, thereby reducing inconvenience, operational problems, and safety hazards.
After more than 50 years of studying how the natural and built environments interact, RWDI has a wide range of tools and techniques at our disposal, but the first step is always to leverage the expertise of our team to ensure we fully understand the challenges facing the project.
Part of this process is a customized assessment to efficiently evaluate the issue, using a variety of approaches ranging from experience-based reviews to on-site physical measurements, to large scale simulations of complex air flows using wind tunnels or computational techniques and even combinations thereof.
While some locations and sectors (such as mining or construction) require more detailed dust and sand mitigation plans, sand and dust management can apply to a range of sectors. One example is transit projects like highways and railways looking to reduce the frequency of sand cleaning. Power generation projects like renewables estimating the dust build-up of sand on solar panels in desert climates. Building projects looking to improve internal human comfort by designing buildings that passively reduce dust and sand ingress.
With decades of expertise, RWDI has helped our clients develop a number of mitigation approaches over the years.
A typical starting point, is low cost/effort changes to operations (e.g. flattening piles, decreasing drop heights, reducing traffic speeds, etc.). Then, if the issue isn’t sufficiently mitigated, we move on to more involved recommendations such as altering the location of equipment/stockpiles, scheduling activities based on local weather conditions, or applying water or chemical suppressants. Our goal is always to balance practicality with effectiveness.
In cases where multiple options are available, we will rank by factors such as mitigation efficiency, cost, and requirements for passive versus active management. This approach allows clients to weigh options according to their needs and priorities.
Insights from our industry experts
When a client wanted to understand the value of enclosing their raw material stockpiles, they turned to us for clarity. They had estimates of how much material was blown away by wi...
