Aggregates Manager Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/932759
18 AGGREGATES MANAGER / February 2018 PLANT PROFILE Thompson says. The operation's pit is located on the side of the mountain, and the primary jaw crusher is in the pit area. A large earthen berm was constructed between the primary and the processing plant at the base of the mountain to help control noise. A conveyor runs through a tunnel that goes through the berm to the processing plant below. After the material reaches the processing plant, it is separated by size. Crusher run and 24 stone are set aside, while the 6-inch minus goes to a secondary impact crusher. From there, it goes to another screen that sorts out the useful product and sends oversize to the tertiary cone crusher. The fi nished product goes out to a wash screen and is stockpiled for sale. The water from the wash screen goes to a sand screw where the fi nes are pulled out. Then, it goes to a closed-loop settling pond system and is eventually recirculated to the wash plant. "We conserve as much water as we can and keep all that fi ne material here so it never impacts Hurricane Creek," Thompson explains. "We're heavily regulated. We've got an air and water permit with the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, and the inspectors can drive by any time and look at our plant." Customer trucks enter at the scale house and drive across the fl ood plain and the bridge to get their loads in the processing plant. Once loaded, they drive back across the bridge and fl ood plain to the scale to check their weight and pick up a ticket. A wheel wash at the scale comes on as the truck enters to clean the truck's tires before it leaves the site. Gurley Quarry is still a fairly new operation, having just begun production in 2013, so it only has a couple of employees on site all the time — a loader operator and the scale person. The fi ve-man production crew rotates in from another Vulcan quarry when needed, as does the fi ve-man stripping crew. "We bring our Scottsboro crew in to run this plant," says David Wheeler, plant manager for both Gurley and Scottsboro quarries. "We move the one crew back and forth." Gurley Quarry is a small operation right now, but long-term plans are to develop it. As de- mand grows in the future, so will the operation. "We typically produce for one week per month, but it varies," West notes. "Sometimes we'll do a two-week stint with different sales One of the first things Vulcan Materials did was build a bridge over Hurricane Creek. The bridge, which is strong enough to accommodate heavy trucks, was built over the abutments of an old county bridge without disturbing them. Vulcan Material's Gurley Quarry is a fairly new operation, having just opened in 2013, but it received the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association's 2017 Platinum Environmental Excellence Award for going above and beyond to protect the environment on the site. Photo courtesy of Hugh Hunter, Vulcan Materials. A haul truck dumps material into the primary crusher in the pit, where it is crushed and sent on to the processing plant at the base of the mountain. Photo courtesy of Vulcan Materials' Gurley Quarry Photo courtesy of Hugh Hunter, Vulcan Materials