WorldWide Drilling Resource

49 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® JUNE 2015 Sandvik Helps Boost Quarry Production Adapted from Information by Sandvik Construction Lafarge’s Pitt River Quarry in British Columbia, Canada, is located west of Vancouver, which is a big market for the quarry. The quarry ships roughly 1½-2 million tons of aggregate each year. In 2013, operations at the granite quarry were running smoothly, churning out 900 tons per hour of high-quality aggregate used in superpave (superior performing asphalt pavements), asphalt, and concrete applications. When a main frame cracked on its existing 54-inch cone crusher, Quarry Manager Robert Brakes sought solutions to replace the quaternary unit, which was too old to repair. Among the solutions was one provided by ELRUS Aggregate Systems, an author- ized Sandvik Construction dealer for western Canada, who supplied the quar- ry’s secondary crushing unit, a Sandvik S6800. ELRUS representative, MikeWikdahl, believed a common platform unit to the S6800, the Sandvik CH660 stationary cone crusher, would be a perfect addi- tion to the crushing system. After he stud- ied the company’s operation, Wikdahl went a step further; he proposed the quarry rearrange the l ine-up of its machines to take advantage of the CH660’s finer product. Specifically, he suggested the company’s tertiary crush- er be relocated to replace the broken cone crusher and the CH660 replace it in third-stage crushing. He predicted an increase in production of at least 10-15% from the added capabilities of the CH660. Brakes studied the flow sheets using his knowledge as a third-generation quar- ry operator with 27 years of experience in the industry. Although he recognized Wikdahl had done a lot of research, he still had doubts. “It still took me a little bit to read between the lines,” he said. In the end, Brakes came to the same conclusion: placing the new crusher in the third posi- tion in the crushing sequence would boost output - and it did. Quarry Assistant Manager Shayne Daum said size reduction turned out to be a bigger deal than what they thought. “With the CH660, the unwanted by-prod- uct has gone from a thousand tons a day to zero.” The CH660 went online earlier this year as a tertiary crusher, and the bene- fits to Lafarge Pitt River Quarry have been impressive. The most obvious one is the sizeable upturn in total production with the quarry experiencing a 30% increase in aggregate output, reaching over 1300 tons an hour (double what Wikdahl had predicted). “The cost per ton was the deciding factor. We typically were running a shift and a half to get the same tonnage as we now are doing with regular shifts. That’s huge when you add it all up: wear on belts, fuel, man hours, and other costs,” Brakes stated. Another advantage Lafarge Pitt River Quarry has noticed is with the increased production rates, the quarry can afford regular planned maintenance interrup- tions, which also avoid costlier overtime repair work. “Before, we had to run around and chase maintenance needs,” Brakes stated. “Now we can plan on scheduled maintenance programs.”