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

  • Zaxis-5s biggest-ever project
    January 27, 2014
    Norwegian contractor Carl C Fon has secured its largest-ever road construction contract to complete a 4.6km section of the E18 in the Mysen region of its home country. It started the €25million project in August 2012 and it is scheduled for completion in the summer of 2014.
  • Danish days for a Hitachi ZW220-6 wheel loader
    February 6, 2018
    A new Hitachi ZW220-6 wheeled loader has been delivered to Jysk Kloak Entreprise, a sewage and landscaping contractor in Tjæreborg on the coast of Denmark. It is the latest addition to the company’s Hitachi fleet, which includes a ZX250LC-6 medium and three mini excavators , the ZX10U-2, ZX18-3 and ZX27-3. “We needed the most versatile model available for our requirements,” said company owner Jan Christensen. Fitted with additional lights and a larger 4m³ bucket, the wheeled loader was supplied in Februa
  • Hitachi’s ZW180-5 delights the Dutch with additional performance
    March 9, 2015
    Materials handling has been made more efficient for Molenaar Zand en Grond, a Dutch materials yard, after introducing its first Hitachi ZW180-5 wheeled loader. Parent company, the road construction, drainage, sewage and groundworks contractor A. Molenaar, bought the Hitachi ZW180-5 in November for its materials yard subsidiary. The machine is now loading a steady stream of trucks and trailers at Molenaar Zand en Grond BV’s stockyard at Bergambacht, east of Rotterdam. The Hitachi ZW180-5 was delivered by the
  • Hitachi’s launches super long ZX350LC-5 excavator
    February 6, 2015
    Hitachi Construction Machinery (Europe) is launching its largest super long front medium excavator at INTERMAT 2015. With an extended operating range, the ZX350LC-5 model has been specially designed for earthmoving on dredging, bank maintenance and slope finishing projects.