Located in the Soest Börde in the heart of North Rhine-Westphalia, the Rinsche stone quarry extracts German bluestone and Anröchter greenstone (also known as Anröchter dolomite).
The Rinsche family business also mines large quantities of gravel, and the now three-strong fleet of L 586 XPower wheeled loaders supplied by Liebherr plays a significant part in this. The loaders operate with low consumption levels and high performance in load-and-carry operations where they move up to 12 tonnes of limestone marl per loading cycle.
The Rinsche company has had positive experiences of the two previous L 586 XPower wheeled loaders purchased by managing director Wilhelm Rinsche in 2019.
“With its power split driveline, our L 586 use only around 20 litres of diesel per operating hour," he said. "This is approximately 12 litres less than a comparable wheel loader from another manufacturer which we previously had in the quarry. The Liebherr wheel loaders enable us to achieve huge cost savings and greatly reduced CO2 emissions."
The low fuel consumption is particularly notable because the wheeled loaders, weighing more than 33 tonnes, are fitted with a range of special equipment for mining operations. The tyre protection chains are particularly distinctive and weigh up to 800kg each depending on the version. Their main purpose is to improve traction in combination with the automatic self-locking differential.
“The limestone soil in our quarries gets muddy and slippery particularly when it has been raining and this means we need the tyre protection chains,” explains Wilhelm Rinsche.
The main task of the loader is to transport blasted material from the quarry face to the crusher. In this load-and-carry operation, the machines cover distances of up to 200m. The loaders also help with reloading.
“Besides the low fuel consumption, we appreciate the consistently high power our Liebherr wheeled loaders provide. Whether it's picking up material at the quarry face, travelling or reloading, the wheel loaders always deliver the full power output,” Rinsche adds.
The L 586 XPower is Liebherr's largest wheeled loader model and – like all XPower wheeled loaders – comes with the robust and efficient power-split travel drive as standard.
"We are delighted, since the first demonstration in the quarry in 2018, to now be delivering the third L 586 XPower to Wilhelm Rinsche and his team,” said Wilfried Holz, sales manager at Liebherr-Baumaschinen Vertriebs- und Service GmbH in Dortmund who looks after Schotterwerk Rinsche.
The Rinsche gravel plant is a long-established family business. The company has 35 employees and owns three quarries in the area between Münster and Sauerland from which it removes approximately 500,000 tons of material annually. The core product is Anröchter green sandstone, a particular sandstone with blue and green colouring that is popular around the world as a high-quality and natural building material.
