Surveyors will always be required to set out roads and ramps. This process will generally involve placing 'drop-in' pegs for an excavator to begin it's dig, or road width and cut and fill pegs for smoothing and improving (e.g. by sheeting) an existing road surface.

Example #1: Road Crest Pegs

Example #2: Road Width and Cut/Fill Pegs

Some of the duties undertaken by surveyors in open-cut operations include:
Machine Control
Road and Ramp Set Out
Volume Calculations
Reconciliation
High Wall Surveying
Blast Control
Stockpile Monitoring
Locate Old Underground Workings