Barrack Hill Quarries supplies high quality materials for the Irish construction industry. Patrick Smith reports
Since its incorporation in 1992, Barrack Hill Quarries has played an increasingly important role in the supply of high quality aggregates and stone to the Irish construction industry.
The 100 acre (40.5 hectares) quarries dates back some 50 years and at present boasts stockpiles of 2 million tonnes of crushed materials of various sizes while producing an estimated 750,000tonnes each year.
With industry expertise, and incorporating an armoury of some of the most up-to-to-date quarrying machinery available, continued development has seen the company invest in some of the latest crushing and screening equipment, including a recent delivery from
Based in Dungannon, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, Barrack Hill Quarries was first incorporated in January 1992, with the family-run business being established by current managing director Cormac McDonnell.
Starting with just five employees, McDonnell’s aim was to use his industry expertise in synergy with the naturally occurring basalt within the quarries in order to provide a source of high quality aggregates for the construction and associated industries.
Due to systematic business growth Barrack Hill Quarries, and its sister company Equipment and Plant Hire (EPL), now employ over 50 people in a variety of roles.
The growth the business has experienced is fundamentally due to Barrack Hill Quarries now being considered to be one of the premium aggregates suppliers in Ireland.
But as it has expanded the business it has also diversified into related areas such as demolition, recycling, plant hire, civil engineering, crushing and screening contracting.
Barrack Hill Quarries have two plant set-ups: a static crushing and screening operation as well as a mobile operation based at the quarry face, which is based around the Sandvik machines.
Blasting for material is carried out once a month when some 30,000tonnes is removed and this is taken to the static plant using two 60tonne
Loading is carried out by a series of machines which are also used to feed the mobile crushers.
These include two
The static crushing and screening plant is older than the mobile set-up, and material is loaded into a Kue Ken primary jaw crusher with another Kue Ken being used as a secondary crusher while a
Kue Ken manufactured a range of jaw crushing equipment for over 80 years from its base in Oakland, California, USA, and was purchased by
After crushing, the material is then screened into various sizes before being stockpiled or delivered using tipper trucks.
When asked to define why the company has experienced such strong growth during the last 20 years Cormac McDonnell says: “Sound management and good business practices.
“We have always operated a quality driven quarrying operation, but we have been aware of the possibilities that exist in related business areas to not only use our expertise, but also the equipment we own.”
Indeed, in partnership with others he runs two quarries in Nigeria and also does contract crushing.
Despite the business diversification, operations are still very much centred on the original Barrack Hill base, and it is from here that Barrack Hill Quarries sets out to supply gradings of material for uses in various applications throughout Ireland.
It is due to the inherent customer focus of the business, a fact acknowledged by the company recently being awarded ISO 9001 in recognition of its quality management systems, that Barrack Hill Quarries has from its very inception been geared at providing the materials required, and all to exacting specifications.
Thus, the company now counts as its clients some of the biggest players within the Irish construction industry including such names as Sisk Construction, Laing O’Rourke,
The reason for such companies relying on Barrack Hill Quarries is easy to understand, as it is able to provide stone and aggregate for a variety of uses, whenever and wherever it is needed.
Using its fleet of light and heavy haulage vehicles, the quarry is able to supply materials in various sizes for projects large and small. This has included private housing developments, water-sewage treatment works, road construction, sea defences and many other projects.
The materials being supplied range from quarry dust to boulders, either as crusher run or clean stone, including various sized aggregates ranging from 6-150mm, gabion stone, rock armour, boulders and rubble, as well as the supply of filled sand bags.
In order to be able to produce and supply such a wide variety of stone and aggregate, for such a wide variety of applications, Barrack Hill Quarries has invested in a variety of equipment, from a cross section of the leading construction equipment manufacturers.
The common denominators for the equipment is that it has to be tough, hard wearing, efficient; minimise negative environmental emissions; possess the highest standards of health and safety, and contribute to the overall efficient productivity of the business operation.
Thus the range of equipment now operated includes a range of excavators from 13-100tonnes, dozers, dumpers ranging from 1tonne upwards (both rigid and articulated), a tracked crushing and screening train, as well as individual scalpers, screens (double and triple-deck) and crushers.
Some of the newest equipment invested in has included some of the latest developments in Sandvik Construction’s range of tracked crushers and screens.
Sandvik says its range of mobile crushing and screening equipment has been developed with the needs of the minerals extractive industry to the fore, with all equipment possessing inherent flexibility allowing it to be used in other applications ranging from demolition to surface mining.
A major reason for Barrack Hill Quarries’ investment in the Sandvik range is due to “Sandvik’s emphasis on enhancing its customer’s profitability, with machine performance being focused at producing the right mineral products, at the desired levels of production.”
Additionally, Sandvik says its equipment also aims to minimise environmental impact, while helping produce the safest possible working conditions.
Barrack Hill Quarries now operates a full range of Sandvik equipment including a QJ341 jaw crusher with a capacity of up to 400tonnes/hour; cones (QH331 and QH440) and screeners including the four-way split QA450 double-screen.
The 37.5tonne QH331 is capable of crushing 220tonnes/hour while the larger (50tonne) QH440 can handle up to 388tonnes/hour.
With a capacity of up to 600tonnes/hour the QA450 can produce up to a total of four product materials, and it incorporates a large feed hopper, a pair of large screen boxes and extended conveyors that are said to afford massive stockpiling capabilities.
Crushers (mobile)
1 x QJ341 jaw crusher
2 x QH331 cone crusher
1 x QH440 cone crusher
Crushers (static)
2 x Kue Ken jaw crushers
1 x Pegson cone crusher
Wheeled Loaders
2 x Komatsu WA470
1 x Volvo L150G
Excavators
2 x Komatsu PC450
1 x Komatsu PC340
1 x Komatsu PC240
1 x Komatsu PC130
Dump trucks
2 x Terex 60tonne rigid dump trucks
The latest piece of crushing equipment for the Barrack Hill Quarries’ armoury has seen the recent delivery of two Sandvik QH331 track-mounted cone crushers. Based on its predecessor, the QH330, the QH331 has been redesigned to provide Barrack Hill Quarries with “a more environmentally friendly, economical and efficient machine.”
This has not meant that the QH331 does not possess the features of the QH330: compact design for easy transportation and on site manoeuvrability; Sandvik’s CH430 cone crusher and hydroset system, as well as an automatic setting regulation system that keeps track of liner wear, but it adds a number of new and enhanced features, says Sandvik.
These include a CAT C9.3 engine, which is said to provide savings on fuel, and a direct drive which has replaced the previous hydraulic drive. This change sees the QH331 use its power more efficiently, and consequently enhances its operational capabilities through tighter closed side settings (css) and larger bush variations.
The machine has also allowed Barrack Hill Quarries to provide a wide range of additional services through sister company EPL.
The company now provides a contract crushing service for, among others, Farrans, Pitwood Quarries and McCormick Demolition as well as demolition, recycling, muck shifting, site clearance and plant hire, throughout Ireland.
Additionally civil engineering contracting has become an increasingly important part of the business, with the company playing a major role in the construction of the M1 motorway between Dublin and Newry as well as further road construction on the N11 in conjunction with Ascon Road Construction; building work at Dungannon College and the building of a specialist recycling facility in Lurgan.
To be able to prosper in a highly competitive market place, during a difficult economic climate, requires a business to embrace flexibility, customer focus, commercial acumen and the latest equipment.
All of these facets are to the fore at Barrack Hill Quarries as they produce the right materials, to exacting specifications, while providing services to other parts of the industry.
