Boral Cement at Marulan, New South Wales, has seized on an opportunity to produce aggregates for the concrete and decorative market in the local area. This is to bridge the gap of lost volumes after Bluescope Steel?s closure of Blast Furnace Six at Port Kembla in 2011, which extinguished the demand for quicklime from a significant customer and led to the closure of Galong Lime Kiln.
A team of four quarrymen are still producing agricultural lime at the Galong site and this part of the business will be retained.
{{image2-a:r-w:200}} Boral team led by mine manager Les Longhurst, production manager Jamie Whittaker and production supervisor Darryl Young recently conducted a trial production of high quality 10mm and 20mm aggregates using the Kleemann Mobiscreen MS 19 D.
The triple-deck screening unit is on hire from Tricon Mining Equipment. Its rugged design withstands the two-shift operation, producing 300 tonnes per hour with feed material of up to 150mm in size.
Feed material is loaded into an eight-metre hopper travelling along the 1200mm x 3500mm conveyor. The 22.4mm top deck, 11.2mm middle deck and 6mm bottom deck aggivibes screen mesh sort aggregates before moving them along one of four discharge belt conveyors. The unit is powered by a 93kW Cat diesel engine.
?We are running up the hours and have had no downtime recorded except to complete the services and deck changes,? Whittaker said. ?We couldn?t be happier with Tricon?s back-up service.?
{{image3-a:r-w:200}}The screening plant trials produced high quality 10mm and 20mm aggregates that were accredited at Boral?s laboratory in Baulkham Hills, Sydney. The business model includes gaining new customers and providing continuity for existing customers by backing up production at the Emu Plains Quarry, near Penrith in western Sydney.
Emu Plains has supplied building and construction materials to the Sydney region for most of the past century and is now almost exhausted of available hard rock resources.
Mobile crushing and screening plant and machinery provide almost instant deployment and flexible alternatives, and are an integral part of quarrying in the 21st century. The Kleemann MS 19 D is 2900mm wide, 18,440mm long and 3450mm high and weighs 38 tonnes; it is easily transported and assembled, making it operational within hours.
Tricon Mining Equipment offers Kleemann equipment for sale or hire, with options designed to match the individual cash flow requirements of a business plan. The many unique advantages of mobile mining equipment are sustained by the innovative range of robust machines available today and this is guaranteed to underpin the continued growth of the industry sector.
Sources: Tricon Mining Equipment/Wirtgen Australia