# Mining, Quarries & Aggregates GPS tracking for mining, quarry and aggregate fleets: haul cycles counted from face to crusher, pit and highway trucks on one map, and site speed rules. Source: https://www.highpointgps.com/industries/mining-aggregates Last updated: 2026-09-21 GPS tracking for mining and aggregates from High Point GPS puts the pit machines and the highway trucks of a quarry, pit or mine on one live map and counts every haul cycle from the face to the crusher. It is built for site offices that need production, safety and maintenance records from the same system. Your operation runs two fleets that rarely meet: the loaders, haul trucks and water trucks inside the pit, and the highway trucks that carry product to the customer. The dispatcher sees the loader at the face, the haul trucks cycling to the crusher and the highway trucks at the scale, and the day's production comes from the trucks instead of an end-of-shift tally. Geofences around the face, the crusher, the stockpiles and the scale turn each truck's movement into cycles, with the load and dump time per cycle, and the shift count is the number the site manager and the customer's ticket agree on. Site speed limits, haul-road rules and exclusion zones around the blast area run as rules that alert the supervisor and score the operator. The GPS tracking device reads engine hours and, on machines that report it, the CAN bus, so maintenance follows the hours a loader or haul truck works and fault codes reach the shop as they are logged. Electronic pre-shift inspections replace the paper form the regulator asks to see, and the highway trucks carry ELD hours of service and IFTA distance reporting on the same platform for the drivers and routes that need them. ## Common problems - Production counted on a clipboard at the crusher, with haul cycles estimated instead of measured - Site speed limits and blast-area exclusion zones posted but unenforced until an inspector or an incident - Loaders and haul trucks serviced by the calendar while engine hours pile up through double shifts - Paper pre-shift inspections that the regulator asks for and the site cannot always find - Highway trucks and pit machines on different systems, or on none, so the site office has no single picture - Fuel burned at idle by machines waiting at the face or the crusher, with nobody measuring it ## Highlights - Live location of loaders, haul trucks, water trucks, graders and highway trucks on one map for the site office - Haul-cycle counts from geofences around the face, the crusher, the stockpiles and the scale, with load and dump time per cycle - Site speed limits and haul-road rules run as geofence rules, with alerts to the supervisor and events in the operator's score - Exclusion zones around the blast area and the highwall that alert when a machine or vehicle enters - Engine-hours maintenance reminders and CAN bus fault codes from the machines that report them - Electronic pre-shift inspections in the driver app with a machine-specific checklist, kept for the regulator - Idling and fuel reports per machine and per zone, showing where the diesel goes when nothing is moving - ELD hours of service and IFTA distance reporting for the highway trucks, on the same platform as the pit ## How does GPS tracking count haul cycles in a pit? Geofences around the face, the crusher and the stockpile let the platform count each haul cycle as the trucks make it, with the time at the face, the haul time, the time at the crusher and the return for each one. In a pit, the cycle is the unit of production: the truck loads at the face, hauls to the crusher or the stockpile, dumps and returns. The site manager watches the shift's production on the map as it happens, and the end-of-day count comes from a record, not a tally. The same cycle records show where the time goes: a loader waiting for trucks, trucks queued at the crusher, a haul road that has slowed since the last grading. High Point GPS builds the cycle reports around the site's own layout and moves the geofences as the face advances, so the count stays accurate as the pit develops. ![Diagram of a haul cycle as a loop between the face and the crusher, with the load, haul, dump and return times, the shift's cycle count, the blast exclusion zone and one haul truck's engine hours, idle time and exclusion-zone event](https://www.highpointgps.com/images/guides/mining-aggregates.webp) *Geofences around the face, the crusher and the scale count each haul cycle as the trucks make it, with the time at each point, and the exclusion zone around the blast area alerts when a machine enters.* ## Speed, Exclusion Zones and the Site Rules Every site has a speed limit on the haul road and a lower one near the crusher and the scale, and every site has an exclusion zone around the blast pattern and the highwall. The platform enforces them as geofence rules: a machine or a vehicle that exceeds a zone's limit or enters an exclusion zone triggers an alert to the supervisor and an event in the operator's score, with the time and the position in the record. The safety report a regulator or an inspector asks for is a report the platform already produces, and the record of what the site did about each event is beside it. Visiting highway trucks are the hardest to control on site, because their drivers do not know the rules. A temporary GPS tracking device or tag brings a visiting truck onto the map for the duration of its visit, with the same speed and exclusion rules applied, and the site office sees it at the scale and on the haul road like its own machines. ## Maintaining Machines on the Hours They Work A loader that runs two shifts adds engine hours faster than any calendar can track, and a haul truck that queues at the crusher adds idle hours without moving. The GPS tracking device reads engine hours from each machine, and on machines that report through the CAN bus, fault codes, fluid temperatures and pressures. Maintenance reminders run on the hours that accumulate, and a fault code reaches the shop as the machine logs it, so a hydraulic or cooling warning at the face is a repair planned for the next break rather than a machine down at the start of a shift. Idling reports per machine and per zone show where the diesel goes when nothing is moving: the trucks in the crusher queue, the loader waiting for trucks, the water truck running between passes. Fuel-card and bulk-tank integration matches the fuel dispensed to the machine that burned it, and the fuel cost per tonne comes out of the same record as the cycle count. ## Inspections, the Regulator and the Highway Fleet In the United States, MSHA requires self-propelled mobile equipment at surface metal and nonmetal mines to be inspected before each shift, Canadian provinces set their own inspection rules, and the paper form is the one most likely to be missing when the inspector asks. Electronic inspections in the driver app walk the operator through the machine-specific checklist, time-stamp each item and route a defect to the shop before the machine goes to work. The records are kept for the retention period the site sets to match its regulator and produced in seconds. The highway trucks that carry the product carry their own compliance. The drivers and trucks that fall under the ELD mandate log hours of service in the same app, IFTA distance by jurisdiction is reported from the same trip records for the trucks that cross state or provincial lines, and the delivery ticket's arrival at the customer's site is a geofence record like every other. One High Point GPS platform database holds the pit and the highway fleet, and the site office sees both. ## FAQ ### Does it work on loaders and haul trucks, not just highway trucks? Yes. High Point GPS installs the GPS tracking device on loaders, haul trucks, graders and water trucks with a harness suited to each machine. It reads position, engine hours and, where the machine supports it, CAN bus data and fault codes. The rugged version of the device goes on machines with an open cab or in harsher conditions. ### How does haul-cycle counting work? Geofences around the face, the crusher, the stockpiles and the scale record each truck's movement between them as a cycle, with the time at each point. The site sees production on the map during the shift instead of waiting for an end-of-shift tally. As the face develops, High Point GPS moves the geofences so the count stays accurate. ### Can it enforce exclusion zones around the blast area? Yes. An exclusion zone is a geofence with an entry rule, so a machine or vehicle that enters it triggers an alert to the supervisor and creates a record with the time and the position. The same rule works for the highwall and any other restricted area, and each event also counts in the operator's score. ### Does it work where there is no cell coverage in the pit? Yes. The GPS tracking device stores its data while out of coverage and uploads it when the machine comes back into range, so the cycle and inspection records stay complete. Sites with no coverage at the face can add a private network or satellite-connected devices on the machines where a live position is needed. ### Can the highway trucks be on the same system? Yes. One High Point GPS platform database holds the pit machines and the highway fleet, with ELD hours of service and IFTA distance reporting for the trucks that need them. The site office sees both fleets on one map, and a delivery's arrival at the customer's site is recorded by geofence like every other stop.