Skip to main content

Hydraulic breaker solves face stability challenge

UK QUARRY OPERATOR is now using a Sandvik hydraulic breaker for primary winning. This technique has been introduced to the operation to solve a face stability challenge and is being used instead of blasting. The 3.8tonne BR4511 was supplied by local Sandvik breaker dealer M&M Plant and is mounted on a Komatsu PC450-8 hydraulic excavator.
February 6, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
Working from a 5m high bench, the breaker loosens the fractured rock which is then processed through the sites crushing and screening plant
UK QUARRY OPERATOR is now using a 325 Sandvik hydraulic breaker for primary winning.

This technique has been introduced to the operation to solve a face stability challenge and is being used instead of blasting. The 3.8tonne BR4511 was supplied by local Sandvik breaker dealer M&M Plant and is mounted on a Komatsu PC450-8 hydraulic excavator.

Previously used for the extraction of Devonian limestone, the site had also been used as an inert material landfill for the past several years. One of the first challenges facing new owners RF Aggregates after its recent purchase of the facility was processing some of this inert material as part of a reinstatement programme. The company is now recycling the material placed within part of the void space so it can achieve a future objective for the recycling operation and workings of the site. All the material being recycled is being tested to ensure that it is not contaminated and the new operator expects to be able to recycle more than 70% of all the remaining inert materials subject to permission.

Extraction had previously used drill and blast ztechniques. As the operation is bordered by commercial and residential areas, the swith to using breaking at the face made sense. And acording to a geotechnical survey, previous blasting had left several faces in an unstable and fractured state, making new blasting unsafe. It was decided even before an extraction license was granted that a primary breaker was the most logical solution.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Breaking at the face
    July 16, 2012
    Italian customer Marocca Group is using an Indeco HP18000 hydraulic breaker (the heaviest hydraulic breaker on the market at present) for primary demolition at a limestone quarry in Anagni, close to capital Rome. The 40ha quarry produces high grade limestone in 21 different sizes to meet an array of construction needs, and the bespoke fully automated crushing and screening plant is able to process over 500m³/hour of rock. By using the HP18000 in a primary winning application, Marocca Group has also been abl
  • Chinese quarry increasing size of Caterpillar fleet
    December 10, 2013
    Chinese quarry producer Beijing Xindadi Equipment Company is looking to increase the size of its Caterpillar machine fleet as part of its plan to increase output The company is based at Beijing Miyun Taishi Village and currently produces 1-1.5 million tonnes/year of limestone, which is used for general construction in the Beijing area. Zhang Guofeng is equipment manager for the firm and said, “Business is good because the market is not affected by the downturn.”
  • Major producer of road construction materials
    February 10, 2012
    The Simge Group operates a massive and highly modern quarrying operation close to the Turkish city of Bursan, which provides a major supply of aggregates and asphalt to the country's highway construction sector. This quarry produces around 4 million tonnes/year of crushed limestone and is the largest of the five quarries the Simge Group runs in Turkey, which have a combined output of 12 million tonnes/year. The huge site has an asphalt output of 500,000tonnes/year, again a significant portion of the 1.2 mil
  • Sandvik machines help improve quarry output in Thailand
    June 6, 2016
    The Prachuap Khiri Khan region of Thailand is well known for producing high quality aggregates, with four quarries and six concrete plants in operation. A key producer is Tabsakae Granite, which now operates a complete mobile crushing and screening plant. The Sandvik Construction QJ341 jaw crusher, QH331 Hydrocone crusher and a QA451 triple deck Doublescreen are now delivering high production of quality aggregates. Tabsakae Granite operates a quarry and a concrete plant in the Prachuap Khiri Khan region