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Best practices: Loading and hauling
David Nus, director of global key accounts management at Volvo Construction Equipment, presented on best loading and hauling practices at Sandvik Construction and Dyno Nobel’s Quarry Academy educational event in November. Nus and Tony Spake, director of key accounts at Volvo, emphasized the importance of operator training and reducing fuel costs when trying to improve on loading and hauling. Nus has worked at Volvo for about 11 years. He began his career with VME Industries and Americas, working with large Volvo-Michigan loaders and Euclid rigid trucks about 25 years ago. He has presented at the Quarry Academy six times in North America and three times overseas about loading and hauling practices. Pit & Quarry connected with Nus to expand on his thoughts about loading and hauling in the aggregates industry. P&Q: What are some of the biggest mistakes aggregate producers make with loaders and haul trucks? Nus: I’d say one of the biggest missed opportunities is unnecessary idle time. It’s something operators don’t always consider and people don’t spend the… Keep Reading
Crushing do’s and don’ts
The simplest details make a huge difference when crushing, says Stephen Dobler, Sandvik Construction's business line manager for crushing and screening in Canada. "I think everyone has a good grasp on how they should be feeding a crusher," Dobler says. "But every operation has certain priorities, and sometimes these things fall on the backburner because they don't seem to have an immediate impact. Still, a lot of these basic things will have an impact on your operation." Dobler shared some takeaways with Pit & Quarry that aggregate producers can apply to their own crushing operations. Here are Dobler's do's and don'ts: Do: Realize that the quality of your rock may change the deeper you move into your reserves. "The quality of the rock will affect operating costs," Dobler says. "If an operation isn't double-checking work indexes and abrasion indexes, they can get caught by surprise when wear parts wear out faster." Producers typically take core samples before quarry operations begin, but testing should never stop because initial core drilling was… Keep Reading
Operation’s expansion project stimulates steady growth
Two loadout lanes and an expanding customer base meant the line of trucks at Tyler, Texas-based NBR Sand kept growing. An increasing numbers of customers is a good problem to have, though. To mitigate customer wait times and improve customer experiences, NBR Sand implemented a multi-million dollar expansion project in 2014. The project was completed in 2015 with one of the biggest changes being an expansion from two lanes to five in the loadout area. “Moving over to the new loadout system has definitely alleviated the wait time for customers,” says Rick Bailey, senior vice president of NBR Sand. “The additional loadout lanes mean we can load trucks faster.” On top of the additional lanes, NBR Sand expanded its loadout storage capacity from 2,000 tons to more than 10,000. As part of the expansion, Bailey says the company switched from storing sand in an enclosed building with bins to silos. NBR Sand now has 12 silos in all. “Increased storage means we can meet higher demands and sell more product,”… Keep Reading
Government sets stricter standards for worker endangerment
The Departments of Justice and Labor announced a plan to more effectively prosecute crimes that put the lives and health of workers at risk. Under the new plan, the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Offices will work with the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and Wage and Hour Division (WHD) to investigate and prosecute worker endangerment violations. “On an average day in America, 13 workers die on the job, thousands are injured and 150 succumb to diseases they obtained from exposure to carcinogens and other toxic and hazardous substances while they worked,” says Deputy Attorney General Sally Quillian Yates. “Given the troubling statistic on workplace deaths and injuries, the Department of Justice is redoubling its efforts to hold accountable those who unlawfully jeopardize workers’ health and safety.” Starting last year, the Departments of Justice and Labor began meeting to explore a joint effort to increase the frequency and effectiveness of criminal prosecutions of worker… Keep Reading
USGS releases full third-quarter production report
About 697 million metric tons (Mt) of total construction aggregates were produced and shipped for consumption in the third quarter of 2015. That's a 5 percent increase compared with that of the third quarter of 2014, reports the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The estimated production for consumption in the first nine months of 2015 was 1.69 billion metric tons (Gt), an increase of 5 percent compared with that of the same period in 2014. Production for consumption of construction aggregates increased in 28 of the 43 states for which estimates were made, according to USGS. The five leading states in this area were Texas, California, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio. About 406 Mt of crushed stone were produced and shipped for consumption in the third quarter of 2015 in the United States. According to USGS, this is a 7 percent increase compared to that of the third quarter in 2014. The estimated production for consumption in the first nine months of 2015 was 991 Mt, an increase of 6 percent compared… Keep Reading
Best practices: Drilling and blasting
Larry Mirabelli, senior manager at Buckley Powder Co., teamed with Bill Hissem, senior mining engineer at Sandvik Construction, to deliver a presentation on drilling and blasting at the 2015 Quarry Academy hosted by Dyno Nobel and Sandvik. Mirabelli, who has more than 40 years of experience in explosives technology between Buckley Powder and Dyno Nobel discussed a concept with Hissem called "chemical crushing," which the two describe as making drilling and blasting a symbiotic process to achieve better results. Pit & Quarry recently connected with Mirabelli to discuss this concept further, as well as best blasting practices. P&Q: What are some of the most common blasting mistakes you see made at quarries? Mirabelli: I feel the biggest mistake is separating drilling from blasting. The traditional method of drilling and blasting is to treat the two items as separate processes. A driller comes in to drill a hole; a blasting company puts explosives in the hole and blasts it. If you keep these two items separate, you cannot always achieve the… Keep Reading
Legal notebook: Avoid assumptions, keep records
Don't presume, assume or anticipate anything without first planning or analyzing data. That's one of the messages Jeff Friedman, an attorney at Friedman, Dazzio, Zulanas & Bowling, P.C., offered aggregate producers during an educational session at the 2015 Quarry Academy hosted by Dyno Nobel and Sandvik in San Antonio. "Generally, it's dangerous if you fail to appreciate non-safe situations," says Friedman, whose firm is based in Birmingham, Ala. "That's where presumption comes in. In aggregates, it's never acceptable to play with odds, underestimate or take shortcuts with scenarios." Liability hides in plain sight, Friedman adds. When producers buy a crusher, for example, they also naturally must have a system to keep dust levels related to that crusher down. "If not, you could face a liability lawsuit," Friedman says. A similar dynamic pairs blasting and seismographs. Seismographs might help protect producers against blasting lawsuits, he says. But who bears responsibility for hiring a company that offers seismograph services? Is it the aggregate producer or the blasting company? "I would argue the… Keep Reading
Obama signs two-week highway bill extension
President Obama signed a two-week highway bill into law that extends federal transportation funding through Dec. 4. According to The Hill, the extension buys Congress more time to develop a long-term bill. The House and Senate are currently collaborating to piece together a long-term bill ahead of the expiration of this latest patch. “The House and Senate are making good progress in resolving differences between their respective multi-year surface transportation reauthorization proposals,” says Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.). “This clean extension provides time for that process to occur and for the House and Senate to vote on the final legislation without shutting down transportation programs and projects in the meantime.” Keep Reading
Sandvik, Dyno Nobel team for 10th annual Quarry Academy
More than 130 aggregate producers attended Sandvik Construction's and Dyno Nobel’s 10th annual Quarry Academy educational event Nov. 17-19 in San Antonio. Guests had the opportunity to sit through three days of classes and breakout sessions on best practices in drilling, blasting, crushing, screening, quarry planning, legal matters, loading and hauling. Attendees also tested their excavating and drilling skills on Sandvik and Volvo Construction Equipment simulators showcased at the event. Volvo's Wade Turlington was one of several people training attendees on simulator benefits. “There’s a big training difference when quarry producers train operators on simulators,” Turlington says. “There’s about a 20 percent reduction in training time on a simulator based on our research.” Jeff Heinemann, Sandvik’s vice president of construction, says this year’s Quarry Academy incorporated more breakout sessions than in previous years and allowed attendees to pick and choose more of their schedule at the event. “Last year, people requested more breakout sessions so they had one-on-one time with us,” he says. “So with that, we had a couple… Keep Reading
