In 2013 the Ukraine-based Kovalska Industrial-Construction Group (Kovalska Group) managed to launch a new Metso crushing and screening plant in just four months, increasing the group’s production of cubical crushed stone to meet rising domestic demand. The tight schedule for equipment assembly and commissioning was possible thanks to the plant’s modular design, while a conventional three-staged process flow diagram provided a steady output of crushed stone. After moving from one Kovalska Group quarry to another in early 2017, the plant continues to produce high-quality final grade products. Guy Woodford reports.
In late 2012, Kovalska Group executives and management at the group’s Omelyanivskiy Quarry based in the Korosten district of the Zhytomyr region of Ukraine, needed to make some tough decisions.
“We supply aggregates from this quarry to other Kovalska Group operations. Our demand for crushed stone had increased, but we could not satisfy it without modernisation and automation of the existing facilities,” says Oleg Targonskiy, ICG Kovalska’s vice president, recalling the sense of frustration at that time.
Sergiy Goncharenko, head of Kovalska ICG procurement and contract policy department, was another concerned group boss. “Our production growth required an increase in aggregates supply by as much as 300,000 tonnes per month. However, we couldn’t achieve this goal with the existing equipment [at Omelyanivskiy Quarry]. After considering the various options, we decided to install a new production line.”
The goal was clear – promptly build a new production line that could produce high-quality crushed stone without production losses and without having to shut down the existing complex. The company’s management asked two European manufacturers, one of them
“Our material is very abrasive granite. It requires a labour-intensive and generic process of recycling. So it was important to get not only a highly productive solution, but also a cost-effective solution,” Goncharenko describes.
Metso experts assessed all the production parameters and proposed the installation of a modular plant with three crushing and screening stages. In the first stage of the project, three jaw crushers of different sizes, including a Nordberg C125, were laid for the maximum reduction of the feed material size; and Nordberg HP300 cone crushers for the upgrading of the final product were laid in the second and the third stages.
It was recommended that wet and dry screening was included on the inclined screens in the process line for better material separation, including the small class. The modular design of the solution made up for the lack of time for equipment
assembly and start-up, and the conventional three-staged process flow diagram guaranteed the production of high-quality aggregates.
“We saw that the Metso solution would allow us to promptly increase production without a loss in quality. Hence, it was their technology that we chose,” says Goncharenko.
“The plant was built in record time: we started installation in January 2013 and by May we had produced the first batch,” Targonskiy remembers.
Metso’s official distributor, SV-TEK, was involved in the plant maintenance. Service engineers made a schedule of inspections, a repair works calendar, and a plan for spare and wear parts replacement.
“This is a unique plant in our country as it combines the best of mobile and stationary equipment. On the one hand, the complex can be relocated during a rather short period of time. And on the other hand, the complex’s flexibility and production costs are comparable with those of stationary plants. We keep such peculiarities in mind during planning and maintenance so that we can optimise any service activities and spend as little time as possible on maintenance,” says Oleksiy Tolkach, SV-TEK director.
Introduction of a new crushing and screening line at the quarry has helped the Kovalska Group significantly increase its in-house crushed stone production, and minimise procurement of aggregates from third parties.
In January 2017, the Kovalska Group moved the Metso plant from Omelyanivskiy Quarry to its Biloshytskiy Quarry, also in the Korosten district of Zhytomyr region. Production restarted in March 2017.
“We produce 2,700,000 metric tonnes of crushed stone per year at our own plants. With such production volumes, we feel confident with the market,” Goncharenko says.
“Now we produce as much as 80% of the total crushed stone volume that we use. We are sure about the quality of the material supplied to our operations every day,” he summarises.
While the Kovalska Group has benefited greatly from the installation of a premium Metso modular plant, first at Omelyanivskiy and latterly at Biloshytskiy Quarry, in the past five years, the boom in the building of new infrastructure facilities in Ukraine actually began in the period 2005-2008.
In 2005, Ukraine’s aggregates production capacity wasn’t able to completely satisfy domestic market demand; so by the end of 2007, the crushed stone deficit was over 30% of the total production capacity. Based on studies of the country’s crushed stone market, such an imbalance between supply and demand was caused by the poor condition of the equipment at the existing plants: about 40% of the plants were working at only half their capacity. Another factor in the deficit was the low degree of resources development — only 300 of 630 registered deposits had been worked on at that time.
The years 2005-2008 were the catalyst for greater efficiency in the working practices of the Eastern European nation’s aggregates producers. This included significant investment by many producers in new plant technology. Indeed, it was in 2008 that the Kovalska Group first began investing in Metso equipment.
Kovalska Group’s initial 2008 purchase of Metso crushing and screening solutions for Omelyanivskiy Quarry and subsequent comprehensive plant installation in 2013, were both major landmarks for the quarry given its more down-at-heel origins. It had been established back in the Soviet era, so by the time of its acquisition by the Kovalska Group, all the quarry’s equipment had become worn out and outdated.
“When we acquired the [Omelyanivskiy Quarry] company, the plant was shut down due to equipment failure. We had a lot of work ahead of us regarding production modernisation and recovery,” recalls Sergiy Goncharenko.
That work by the Kovalska Group paid off at Omelyanivskiy Quarry and continues to do so at Biloshytskiy Quarry – aided by continued engineering and other aftermarket support from Metso.
