Perry Resources, a long time quarrying and sand aggregate business on New Zealand’s North Island, operates a sand quarry in Tuakau, where the Auckland region meets Waikato at the bottom of the Bombay Hills. Here it produces a number of grades of sand for the commercial market.
Things start ramping up as demand increases with the start of the construction season – but its sand products are also popular for sports fields and golf courses.
Perry Resources has a dredge that, working from a small lake of its own making on the edge of the river, sucks sand up out of the ground and blows it into a pit. From there it is picked up and taken to be screened and washed before sale. And this is where the Hyundai HL770-9 wheel loader can be found at work.
The HL770-9 is used as a second loader in the sand quarry, working when the main loader is busy. It is used to load the hopper that feeds the screening plant, or to fill the trucks that have come to take the sand away to various projects. Tuakau site supervisor Mike Corban said the HL770-9 was there to take the pressure off when things get busy. “It does the job well,” he said. “It’s very nice to drive, and comfortable. It’s very operator friendly – the controls are easy to get to.”
Perry Resources produces six different sand products at the Tuakau quarry. It has a full processing facility for producing sand of all grades of concrete, construction, block and tile production, pumice and turf sands. The turf sands are designed with national and international specifications in mind. They have been used in all the major stadiums in the Auckland and Waikato regions, and for constructing and top-dressing maintenance of sand sports fields throughout the upper North Island.
“Summer is a busy time for us,” Corban said. “Things are taking off right now with construction season starting, parks being top-dressed, drainage being redone, and so on.”
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Flexible workforce
The facility at Tuakau processes between 1200 and 1500 tonnes of raw material daily. “The plant runs from 6am to 5pm, although when we’re busy, we will operate to 6:30 or 7pm,” Corban said. There is a team of four on-site, any of whom can step into the new wheel loader and start operating.
A key feature of the HL770-9 is its large operator’s cab, with rounded front glass and large door glass for a bigger field of view. The cab also has an easy-to-read colour LCD display, an integrated load weight system, viewable through the monitor, and a self-diagnostic and monitoring system with active display of engine, hydraulic system, transmission and electrical component information.
The loader has a reliable, fuel-efficient, low noise Cummins Tier 3 QSL engine and is electronically controlled for optimum fuel to air ratio and clean, efficient combustion.
Perry Resources acquired the wheel loader from Hyundai distributor Porter Group. Porter is a leading supplier of heavy equipment throughout Australia and New Zealand – it sells new and used machines and provides rental equipment. According to Porter, the HL-9 series loader is a fine example of high quality engineering and workmanship, with special attention given to increased performance, safety and serviceability. “The 9 series gives satisfaction in higher power, lower fuel consumption, more comfort and lower emissions compared with before,” a Porter spokesman said.
The HL770-9 wheel loader allows the operator to customise the machine’s engine power, automatic transmission-shift timing and clutch cut-off activation, based on the job condition and personal operator preference.
The HL770-9 has enhanced axles for improved driving on uneven ground conditions. Self-adjusting brakes automatically compensate disc wear, reduce service intervals and improve brake performance, and the new load sensing hydraulic system with a variable volume piston pump and closed centre main control valve, provide efficient hydraulic power and additional energy savings.
These features all promote durability and reliability, which is necessary in a machine with a long working career ahead of it. The operation at Tuakau is just three and a half years into a 20-year consent. Perry Aggregates has the mining rights on this agricultural land, and after the sand is quarried out the land is rehabilitated and returned to farmland.
Corban said that Perry Resources still accepts clean fill and concrete from commercial suppliers. This is used to fill the hole made by the dredge. A layer of topsoil is then applied and grass sown so the farm can resume grazing.
Hyundai construction plant and equipment is available in Australia through the Porter Group in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory, and Onetrak Construction Equipment in Victoria and Tasmania.
Source: Porter Group New Zealand/Onetrak Construction Equipment