Morocco’s largest quarry, CCGT Granulats, lies in a rural location between the cities of Serat and Rabat. Operations there are on the rise as demand for aggregates in the country booms to meet the needs of the government’s highway expansion plan. In recent months, output at the Granulats facility has risen to 5,000m³ of aggregates/day.
CCGT owns the landmark quarry, together with several others in the country, and has been expanding its equipment fleet to help with the growing workload. Among the machines added in the past year are four
The first machine on site at Granulats was a 5tonne lift capacity LG958 wheeled loader, which arrived just 12 months ago. The quarry owners says they were so impressed with the SDLG machine, particularly the fuel efficiency and product support from local dealer SBMH, that a further wheeled loader, a 7tonne lift capacity LG978, plus a 30tonne rated LG6300E excavator, were added.
Youseff Tazi, the owner of CCGT, said the company was delighted with the output and performance of the SDLG units.
“This is our first experience of using a Chinese brand at our facilities as most of our other equipment is from established Western brands,” he said.
“But we were pleased with the performance of the first wheeled loader, and when we took the second wheeled loader and the excavators we were even more pleased.”
The machines were all supplied through SBMH, SDLG’s exclusive dealer for Morocco. The company is contracted to provide full service support for each machine and this level of backup was said to be a major factor in CCGT’s decision to invest.
Both the loaders work in the final phase of the quarry, loading the trucks for export. The pair have Weichai engines, the LG958 a 162kW unit and the LG978 a 220kW unit, although as the LG978 is a new machine with a newer engine, CCGT is reporting equivalent levels of fuel efficiency on both loaders.
Vehicle weight for the LG958 is 16.6tonnes while the LG978 weighs 23.5tonnes. Maximum breakout force is 168kN on the smaller unit, and 216kN on the larger, while bucket capacities are 3m³ and 4.2m³ respectively.
The excavator is employed filling trucks which transfer materials to the crusher.
This duty cycle work exerts high levels of work pressure on the LG6300E, but so far the unit “has been more than equal to the task.”
Bucket capacity is 1.4m³ on the excavator and breakout force is 198kN. The 6.2m standard boom can reach out to 10.49m and dig down to 7.32m. The maximum dumping height is 7.05m. Power for the unit comes from a six-cylinder Dalian
Said Boudali, general manager of SBMH, said providing superior service was central to building success for the SDLG brand in Morocco.
“The philosophy of our company is to offer reliable and productive equipment at a competitive price,” he said.
“But we also understand that fast and responsive customer service is crucial to our success. So we have invested in a significant stock of spare parts and consumables at our facility plus technicians capable of reaching all areas of the country in a matter of hours. That level of support gives our customers the confidence to invest.”
CCGT was established in 2001 and has five divisions with an annual turnover of MAD 200 million (€17 million). In addition to its quarries, the group also has a company which manufactures pipe sections and one that operates as a construction contractor. CCGT employs 650 people in all.
