Washing creates value in sandstone aggregate

The purchase of a new CDE M2500 sand washing plant has given the team at Wood Mulching Industries in Queensland another string to add to its bow. Now, as well as offering a large range of high quality landscaping, horticultural and civil works products, the company can offer hundreds of thousands of tonnes a year of high grade washed sand.

The opportunity was grasped when John North, owner and founder of Wood Mulching Industries, discovered the CDE M2500 washing plant, which is distributed by Minroc.

?We have been considering adding sand washing to our repertoire for a number of years but always found the plants in the market exceeded our budget,? North explained. ?After a number of discussions with Wayne Stafford about Minroc?s new affordable portable sand washing plant from CDE, we decided that this was an avenue we wanted to pursue.

?We took a trip to Western Australia to see one of the systems in operation and based on that we have now purchased the M2500 and added sand washing as a product to our growing range. One of the features we really like about the M2500 is that it is portable and we are able to break it down and move it around our land, which is perfect for how we operate.?

Wood Mulching Industries has always processed sandstone on-site and sold bulk fill and has supplied sandstone fill to the Ipswich Motorway works for some time. By being able to offer ?washed? sandstone, the company is able to obtain a better price for the product. ?It just made sense to make an investment in a machine like the M2500,? North said. ?We are now able to create a coarser sand which is perfect for masonry and the M2500 also makes great concrete sand.?

Before the Wood Mulching Industries team started to offer the washed sand product, the land that the M2500 now takes up was unused. The machine does not occupy as much space as was expected for a machine of its capabilities and the team were surprised at the speed at which the Minroc team set up the system.

?In just under two weeks, the M2500 was unpacked from its four containers and was firing on all cylinders and we had delayed the build by about a week too,? North enthused. ?We were really impressed with the Minroc team?s responsiveness and commitment to getting our core staff trained up.?

Minroc are a Queensland-based specialist in quarrying and mining equipment while CDE is just one of the brands of machines that Minroc represents nationwide. Part of Minroc?s focus as the distributor of this type of equipment is to provide excellent customer service and aftermarket training. This was felt with gusto at Wood Mulching Industries when it came time for the M2500 to be tested.

?The guys at Minroc were really helpful throughout the whole process of installation, testing and training,? site manager John Brennan explained. ?Even now, if I ever need some help with the machine, the Minroc team is always very helpful when I call and will come out to visit me at the drop of a hat. If I had to give the guys a mark out of ten for their service commitment it?d be a nine, and it takes a lot to get me to say that!?

{{image2-a:r-w:250}}?The guys were exceptionally helpful. I felt very comfortable having Minroc?s knowledgeable young blokes behind the install,? North added.