Skip to main content

Scenic location requires careful quarrying

The picturesque surroundings of the Carrière de Cusy quarry, situated in France’s Parc Naturel Régional du Massif des Bauges, make it evident why the company has a strong commitment to restoration.
September 11, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
The wheeled loader offers good all-round visibility, a key issue in this quarry application

The picturesque surroundings of the Carrière de Cusy quarry, situated in France’s Parc Naturel Régional du Massif des Bauges, make it evident why the company has a strong commitment to restoration.

While producing 110,000 tonnes of limestone/year, it must also protect local wildlife and closely observe environmental regulations on noise limits, dust and machine emissions.

Owned by brothers Yves-Pierre and Denis Mathieux, the quarry opened in 1981. “It takes us 1-2 years to extract the limestone from each section of the quarry,” explained Yves-Pierre. “Then in the following year, we restore the land, planting trees and vegetation in a continuous process.”

Approximately 80% of Carrière de Cusy’s customers are public works contractors. “They also contribute to the restoration process,” he adds, “by bringing soil materials from earthmoving operations to dump at the site.

Their empty trucks are then filled with aggregates. Half of these materials are used for road construction, the other half for general construction.”

Essential to the activities at Carrière de Cusy are two new 233 Hitachi machines: a ZW250-5 wheeled loader and a ZX290LC-5 excavator, supplied by local dealer Teramat, which has a branch at nearby Saint-Girod.

Denis operates the ZX290LC-5 and has been impressed by the stability and power of the excavator, especially on rugged and uneven terrain. “The lifting capacity is excellent, it is still powerful even when handling heavy rocks and it has to work hard on this site,” he adds. “The TRIAS hydraulic system makes operating the machine so smooth and it helps to make it highly productive.”

Both the Zaxis-5 excavator and ZW-5 wheeled loader are well suited to the working environment at Carrière de Cusy. Their fuel consumption can be monitored on a daily basis from the comfort of the cab.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • DSS Group invests in Hitachi ZX670LC-5 excavator
    August 23, 2013
    One of Poland’s largest aggregates producers, DSS Group, has purchased a new Hitachi ZX670LC-5 for its quarry at Pilawa Górna in Lower Silesia. The company took delivery of the Zaxis-5 large excavator from Polish Hitachi dealer Tona in January 2013 as a key part of its strategy for aggregates production at the site. The DSS Group – owned by Dolnolskie Surowce Skalne SA – is the largest domestic producer of crushed aggregates for infrastructure projects. It has a 30-year licence to extract amphibolite (a
  • Hitachi showcases the ZX290LC-5 and fellow new excavator marvels
    January 6, 2017
    The ZX290LC-5 is one of eight new Zaxis-5 model excavators being showcased by Hitachi at bauma. Like its fellow new machines, the ZX290LC-5 is said to have been designed specifically to meet the requirements of European customers and scores highly in key areas including sustainability, versatility, comfort and safety, and easy maintenance. A powerful new-generation 140kW Isuzu Stage IIIB-compliant engine said to deliver higher productivity with greater fuel efficiency, is another attractive feature of the Z
  • Hitachi showcases the ZX290LC-5 and fellow new excavator marvels
    February 8, 2013
    The ZX290LC-5 is one of eight new Zaxis-5 model excavators being showcased by Hitachi at bauma. Like its fellow new machines, the ZX290LC-5 is said to have been designed specifically to meet the requirements of European customers and scores highly in key areas including sustainability, versatility, comfort and safety, and easy maintenance. A powerful new-generation 140kW Isuzu Stage IIIB-compliant engine said to deliver higher productivity with greater fuel efficiency, is another attractive feature of the Z
  • Hitachi wheel loader ZW5550-5 works in Lasa Marmo’s Whitewater quarry
    November 11, 2015
    The largest wheel loader in the Hitachi range has been delivered to Lasa Marmo’s Whitewater marble quarry near the village of Laas in northern Italy. The new ZW550-5’s main function is to lift each marble block that has been extracted from the cavernous site – situated 1,600m above sea level – and transport it through a series of passageways to an outdoor storage area. The ZW550-5 was delivered in December by Comac, a sub-dealer of the Italian Hitachi dealer for construction machinery, SCAI. The fuel