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Crusher safety enhanced with new technologies
In addition to increasing efficiency, new technologies provide a safer work environment around crushers. Keep Reading
Zip on over: Material handling made easy
Dakota Aggregates LLC, which is in its second season operating a brand new processing plant, mines on 1,722 acres within the University of Minnesota Outreach, Research and Education (UMore) Park. The mine is located in Rosemount, Minn., within reach of the Twin Cities metro area. The operation was designed with innovation in mind, particularly where material handling is concerned. The site spans three miles from north to south, and a mile and a half from east to west. Overland conveyor systems were chosen to efficiently transfer material from the face to the processing facility while eliminating the use of loaders and haul trucks. The conveyors are reportedly quiet while minimizing energy use and lowering operating costs per ton. Initially, the challenge for Dakota Aggregates was finding a lower-cost overland alternative versus that of custom-engineered, conventional overland systems – and, most importantly, one that would allow the company to easily and quickly reconfigure their overland systems to accommodate changing mining requirements each season. Dakota Aggregates has a substantial 40-year lease on… Keep Reading
The permitting process: Part 2
This two-part series educates producers on avoiding pitfalls and adopting best practices in pursuit of obtaining a permit. Read "The permitting process: Part 1" here. Part one of “The Permitting Process” detailed ways aggregate producers could avoid problems while working toward acquiring an operating permit. Part two examines best practices, and begins with the importance of community education and outreach programs. Education and outreach must be ongoing. The industry has long said it must do a better job to educate the public as to the values and contributions of the aggregate and mining industry. This is what helps to build trust and to ease the misconceptions and fears that the public may have, particularly during the permitting process. Few, other than those who work in the industry, truly understand it. Producers who continually implement education programs are in the minority. A quick Internet search regarding quarry education will turn up those producers who are offering tours to school groups and other organizations, teachers’ study guides, educational materials for children, and… Keep Reading
The permitting process: Part 1
This two-part series educates producers on avoiding pitfalls and adopting best practices in their pursuit of permits. Read "The permitting process: Part 2" here. Maneuvering around the potential pitfalls in the permitting process may be likened to playing a fierce round of dodge ball. It takes gamesmanship, mental toughness, negotiation skills, preparation, persistence, and help from a talented team of players. Many are stricken by hit after hit along the way, and, in the end, few are left standing. However, the strong do survive and permits are won. Attaining the hard-fought-for permit is the result of avoiding pitfalls and adopting best practices. Assemble permitting team A common pitfall in the permitting process is failing to assemble a strong, knowledgeable and experienced permitting team – a complete and competent team that oversees the legal, technical, environmental and political approaches regarding the project, the process, the agencies, the government officials and the community. While large producers may have in-house teams that cover each of these areas, most producers do not have the… Keep Reading
Moving mountains with an overland conveyor system
An energy-generating, downhill overland conveyor system boosts safety, savings and sustainability. Moving mountains of upper-ledge rock material to ground-level crushing and processing operations had once posed a significant transport challenge at Geneva Rock Products’ Point of the Mountain site in Draper, Utah. Today, the operation boasts a state-of-the-art material-handling solution with the installation of an innovative downhill conveyor system that meets the company’s key goals of maintaining sound, lowering operational costs and increasing worker safety. Carl Clyde, who serves as the company’s vice president of gravel and asphalt, says that within Utah’s sand-and-gravel industry, this particular downhill conveyor system is unique. The system is particularly unique because it’s designed to generate electricity – enough to ultimately provide power to much of the 50-acre site. “Geneva Rock Products is committed to sustainability, and we find this system to be the most efficient, safe and sustainable way to move aggregate materials,” says Clyde, who adds that the $11 million overland system will pay for itself in two years or less. In the… Keep Reading
Open territory: Boosting uptime with synthetic media
Producers boost throughput and uptime with the maximum open area and wear life of synthetic media. Myth or fact – if you switch from wire cloth to modular synthetic media, you lose open area? Some may say it is fact; however, more operations are finding that notion to be a myth. Some producers are realizing greater throughput and uptime with the maximum open area and wear life of modular synthetic media. Such is the case for Winter Brothers Material Co., a family-owned sand and gravel operation that has been supplying the aggregate needs of the St. Louis area for nearly 70 years. The two founding brothers, George “Pete” Winter and Robert A. Winter led river trips in the region during the 1930s, and after serving in World War II they returned to the area and established the company in 1946. Located on the Meramec River, a tributary of the Mississippi, Winter Brothers mines an alluvial deposit that is unique as to particle shape, uniformity and purity. “Our region is blessed… Keep Reading
Super-size it
Taking a look at the big, bigger and biggest screening operations at an enormous Great Lakes quarry. The mega 12-story-tall screen house at the Rogers City Quarry remains a landmark engineering feat amidst what is said to be one of the world’s largest open-pit limestone quarries. The structural steel-and-brick-faced building shields a massive circuit from the region’s often-blustery freezing climate. Monolithic in scope, a total of 64 screens process the material feed, sizing and separating from floor to floor. A variety of products are sent to stockpiles along the descent, with the finest material landing on the first floor as sand. “The U.S. Steel group assembled this screening building in the 1930s to supply aggregate to its mills over the next several decades. They had a great deal of foresight as to its layout and overall efficiency,” says Ray LeClair, area manager for the Great Lakes division of Carmeuse Lime & Stone, which bought the quarry in 2008. Located in Rogers City, Mich., the quarry mines about 3,000 acres of… Keep Reading
Rollin’ on the river
The Port of Coeymans is engineered for efficient bulk material handling and transport. Along the Hudson River in upstate New York, the Port of Coeymans is a rapidly growing, full-service marine terminal located about 10 miles south of Albany and 110 miles north of New York City. The 400-acre port is privately owned by Carver Cos., which includes a construction and a sand-and-gravel division. For Carver Sand & Gravel, an aggregate operation with nine locations in four counties, the port offers the advantage of direct access to 3,500 ft. of riverfront property with the ability to ship large volumes of material on barges, while freeing up the roads from significant truck traffic and providing a considerable savings to its customers. In addition to shipping its aggregate products for bridge, highway and large-scale landscaping products, the terminal leases acreage and warehouse space to more than a dozen other companies, and also offers deep-water shipping services. Shortly after its opening in 2009, the port became the assembly point for several New York… Keep Reading
Getting the green light
Sustainable environmental initiatives pave the way for a coveted California coastal-zoned expansion permit. There is no shortage of potential roadblocks when it comes to permitting. Even the best and the brightest have fallen short in this pursuit. But for one coastal-zoned quarry, a long permitting process resulted in sweet, unopposed success – something to be savored by Richard DeAtley, president of West Coast Aggregates, which describes itself as “an environmentally concerned company.” In partnership with his savvy consultant, DeAtley employed several winning strategies, each just as important as the other. Their meticulous game plan included highly creative environmental impact mitigation; the enlistment of key-decision-maker support via open information sharing; and an ongoing education campaign on the value of maintaining a local source of aggregate products. With those initiatives in play, the eventual jackpot was the permitting of reserves exceeding 52 million tons at the Pilarcitos Quarry, which is located near the California coastal city of Half Moon Bay. Operating five locations, West Coast Aggregates processes a variety of drain rock… Keep Reading
