Investment in crushing and screening equipment is helping one Irish quarry operator make the most of its decorative deposit
Demand for high quality paving products has helped boost the fortunes of Donegal-based Muckish Sand & Gravel and the company has invested in equipment to keep pace.
The family-owned Irish quarry operator uses a fleet of six
Muckish Sand & Gravel Limited was founded in 1975 by the father and uncle of present managing director Bernard McGinley. More than three decades later, the company continues to build upon the reputation established by the founders using the quarry's extensive reserves.
"Although we use the bulk of our production to produce a 20mm surfacing material for pathways, we try to make maximum use of everything we extract," said McGinley. "To minimise waste and maximise our resource efficiency, we have established our own block making plant and have a growing demand for 'designer stone' for landscaping applications."
McGinley reports that half of the quarry's production is now for decorative purposes. The remainder is split 50% for block making, 40% for road stone and the remainder for general aggregates applications. "Our products now comprise the 20mm decorative path stone, a 14mm garden stone that is also used for concrete applications and a 25mm product that is used in land drainage," he said. "In addition, we are screening seven different grades from dust to a 40mm product, many of which are used in our own block making and ready mixed products." Extraction takes place at the quarry using blasting techniques and each blast usually generates around 25,000 tonnes of material. Depending on the specific material requirement at any given time, the blasted rock is processed by a combination of the six Fintec machines and by the Sandvik C3 crusher.
"We operate an entirely Fintec fleet because they're able to supply and support the right machines for our varied applications," McGinley added. "Along with the Sandvik C3, we have a Fintec 1107 that acts as a primary crusher and a Fintec 1080 that helps us produce precisely the right product shape.
In addition, we have a Fintec 640 scalping screen, a Fintec 540 three-way screen and a Fintec 570 unit that allows us to produce a variety of high quality, consistent product fractions." McGinley said that he was impressed with the support Fintec provided in setting up the crushing and screening train. "Fintec invested a lot of time and effort ensuring that we had precisely the right equipment package for our very specific application," he explained. "The reversible jaws on the 1107 has minimised our downtime, the wide screening surface on the screens has raised our productivity levels, and the end product from the cone is of a consistently high quality. All in all, the equipment has delivered exactly what we required." n
