Aggregates Manager

May 2016

Aggregates Manager Digital Magazine

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14 AGGREGATES MANAGER / May 2016 PLANT PROFILE fed directly into the primary processing plant. The material from the off-site plant is processed at the same time as the material that is mined onsite. This process helps the plant operate more efficiently and meet the ever increasing demand for construction aggregates in the local market area. Operations The deposit is mostly fine sand with just a bit of gravel mixed in. Due to the high price and demand for sand these days, the plant plans to install a crusher to produce manufactured sand to blend in with the fine sand that is currently being mined. This would allow the plant to get more tonnage per acre. Overburden has been a problem for the operation. "We have 3.5:1 to 5:1 overburden ratio," Soule says, adding that the plant has actually found a good way to deal with it. "We've evolved a program where, as we strip an area to be mined, we also reclaim the old area at the same time. We basically cut long slots and use dozers to remove overburden and uncover material in one strip. Then the dozers push the overburden straight across and backfill the old mined-out strip. The reclaimed area isn't perfectly flat, but once we get through with an area, we level it off and let Mother Nature take it from there. It has reduced our cost pretty dramatical- ly. It's very successful and very easy to manage." The simultaneous strip and reclaim program has not only helped with the environmental side of the operation, it has actually provided more precise con- trol over excavations. This has allowed the operation to go back in and reassess the reserves that had been written off, potentially opening up a lot more life expectancy for the operation. Once the overburden is removed and the material is uncovered by dozers, an excavator takes over in the pit. The excavator loads the material into articulated haul trucks. The trucks then go to a drive-over grizzly where the material is dumped into a hopper that feeds a conveyor system. The overland conveyors then carry the material up to the processing plant. At the process- ing plant, the material is fed through a four-deck screen. Gravel is sent to a rock plant with a log washer and a dou- ble-deck screen for processing. Anything an inch and a half or larger is sent to a waste pile. The sand goes through a classifier and a set of twin screws. Yet another screw is used for producing cushion sand. "We hope to have our crusher in soon," Soule says. "We have the plans drawn up and are using repurposed assets from other locations. We will insert the crusher into the rock plant area, so, basically, the material will Bristol Sand & Gravel has developed a unique way of stripping overburden and reclaim- ing mined-out areas at the same time. The pit is mined in long slots. Dozers remove overburden to uncover material in one strip and push the overburden straight across to backfill the old mined-out strip. Once the overburden is removed, an excavator digs up the material and loads it into articulated haul trucks.

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