Skip to main content

Boom in Morocco's road construction materials

The strong road construction market in Morocco is helping boost the quarrying market in the country substantially. One such operation exists near the town of Ben Slimane, situated north of Casablanca. Agregat Oued Cherrat (AOC) owns a 65ha quarry, one of the largest of the 14 in the region and when the firm decided to buy new excavators, it also opted to buy Hitachi machines. AOC placed an order for one ZX330-3, with the second delivered three months later and the company now has three ZX330-3s, with a four
April 10, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
RSSThe strong road construction market in Morocco is helping boost the quarrying market in the country substantially. One such operation exists near the town of Ben Slimane, situated north of Casablanca. Agregat Oued Cherrat (AOC) owns a 65ha quarry, one of the largest of the 14 in the region and when the firm decided to buy new excavators, it also opted to buy 233 Hitachi machines. AOC placed an order for one ZX330-3, with the second delivered three months later and the company now has three ZX330-3s, with a fourth on order. Blasting is carried out every day yielding some 7,000tonnes/day and this is then loaded on to AOC's fleet of 17 trucks. In the past the site has produced 1,000,000 million tonnes/year and it is hoped that the annual output will increase to 1.8million tonnes by the end of this year with the new Hitachi machines.

The trucks unload the material into the separator, which removes the limestone from the soil. The limestone then moves on to the three primary crushers while the soil is used to refill the site. The heaps from the primary crushers are then processed through the three secondary crushers, after which the materials are further separated by two units into four different sizes of aggregates: from 0-3mm to 15-25mm.

Around 30% of the materials are delivered to companies over an average distance of 80km, but the majority is collected by customers. Some 80% of AOC's business is in the concrete sector and the remainder is dedicated to supplying aggregates to the expanding road construction market.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Easy operating
    July 31, 2012
    Modern asphalt plants are a far cry from the early models, and are capable of producing a wide variety of mixes at the touch of a button. Patrick Smith reports Cutting-edge software-based control technology makes today's asphalt mixing plants simple and efficient to operate. The tightening of clean air regulations is reducing the emissions from the plants, and the current focus is on the goal of raising the processed portion of reclaimed asphalt (RA) towards 100%, says Ammann Group, which has been involved
  • New developments in earthmoving with radical loader and excavator designs
    March 15, 2017
    The market is seeing new wheeled loader and excavator models coming to market, including some radical new designs - Mike Woof writes. The global market for earthmoving machines is seeing some important developments. Manufacturers are now offering separate machines for customers in developed and developing markets. Meanwhile there are also some innovative concepts being made available. One of the most notable new earthmovers is the innovative VL70A vertical lift wheeled loader from LiuGong. This model featur
  • Latest bitumen mixes improve roads, reduce noise
    February 14, 2012
    Special bitumen mixes and machines are capable of improving the service life of roads and reducing noise. Mike Woof and Patrick Smith report. The need to improve traffic flow in an important part of the City of Poznan, Poland, led to the decision to build a new 1.13km long dual carriageway.
  • Developments in asphalt compaction machines
    July 4, 2012
    Mike Woof reviews the latest compaction market developments In the run-up to the upcoming World of Asphalt event in Orlando, Florida in March, the leading compaction equipment firms are rolling out upgraded and improved machines. With market conditions tough worldwide, customers are also likely to be encouraged with competitive deals on purchasing new machines and replacing ageing fleets.