J. Lee Milligan invested in a new sand-washing plant that’s expected to more than quadruple the processing volumes at its production facility in Amarillo, Texas.
Founded in 1937 with a single truck and a contract to haul dirt for $1.25 per hour on New Mexico’s Conchas Dam project, J. Lee Milligan has evolved to become one of the largest heavy highway construction firms operating in the panhandle and South Plains of Texas.
This summer, the company commissioned a new 200-tph dual-pass EvoWash. The plant from CDE will replace a 40-tph traditional sand screw.
Gains to be had
CDE last year launched a campaign to enable operators to trade in their sand screws.
With data from the U.S. Geological Survey indicating that demand for sand and gravel reserves often outstrips supply in some of the most densely populated U.S. urban centers, CDE launched its campaign to encourage natural sand producers to adopt new technology solutions that drive efficiency across operations.
As CDE describes, the EvoWash is a compact, modular sand-washing system that screens and separates smaller sand and gravel fractions. The EvoWash processes material through an integrated high-frequency dewatering screen, sump and hydrocyclones that provide control of silt cut points to eliminate the loss of fine material with commercial value.
“Though sand resources in the Texas area are in abundance, it still makes good business sense to process that material as efficiently as possible,” says Ronan Duffy, business development manager at CDE.
J. Lee Milligan expects to benefit from control of cut points to increase in-spec sand recovery with its new EvoWash.
“We’re losing quite a lot of material to the pond, meaning we’re having to work harder for longer to meet our production targets,” says Chris Brannon, aggregates superintendent at J. Lee Milligan. “With this new CDE plant, we’ll be able to vastly increase the rate of production and capture the fine material we’re missing to offer a healthy boost to our bottom line.”
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