It was no surprise that when Antonis Latouros, head of the Latouros Group, wanted to update the excavation, loading and hauling fleet working across his Cyprus-based group’s four businesses that he opted for Cat models.
“If you cut me, my blood is going to be yellow. I am Caterpillar’s biggest customer in Cyprus,” explains Latouros. “We have used Cat machines for so many years as they are reliable. They have a strong dealer and aftersales presence here, which helps with maintenance and machine uptime, and Cat machines retain a good resale value after you’ve used them for seven to 10 years. This offers better value for money.”
Latouros is also impressed with his new Cat machines’ fuel efficiency and productivity. “Caterpillar has improved the fuel efficiency of its machines a lot, most notably with its new models. We discussed fuel consumption with Caterpillar before purchasing our new Cat 966M XE wheeled loader, and they guaranteed us 50% fuel saving compared to the Cat 966H we had been using.
“We have a subscription to CatConnect and ProductLink and the technology on our Cat machines allows us to produce much more. My team and I are very experienced when it comes to working with Cat machines. Our chief mechanic, for example, was previously working at the local Cat dealer. Our operators also say how comfortable they are in the cabin during their work.”
Latouros’s highly successful quarrying group consists of Latomia Latouros, which operates Latouros Group’s (LG) flagship calcareous limestone-based sand quarry in Dali, situated just under 20kms south-east of Nicosia. The group also operates another calcareous limestone-based sand quarry, Elmeni (Latomia), less than two kilometres from the Dali site. Latomio Pyrgon produces diabase rock sand/aggregates of various sizes at Pyrga village. Latouros Gypsum is LG’s gypsum quarry business, with its impressive “95% purity” gypsum exported via Larnaca port to customers in countries including Israel and Lebanon. A fourth company, Recycling Point – Latouros & Xenis Bros., is a 2019-established construction and demolition (C&D) waste recycling business, 51% owned by LG.
LG sells around 1.75 million tonnes of sand/aggregates and gypsum products produced each year at the group’s four quarries – generating approximately €15 million in annual sales revenue. The Dali site accounts for around 600,000 tonnes, with a further 400,000 tonnes of sold product originating from Elmeni (Latomia) quarry. Latomio Pyrgon production accounts for 400,000 tonnes of sales, with Latouros Gypsum’s gypsum quarry output resulting in annual sales of approximately 350,000 tonnes. Combined, LG companies’ 90 million tonnes of deposits ensure the long-term operations of the group for decades to come.
Latouros’s 11 new Cat models were delivered in the spring and summer this year. All are now operating across several LG work sites.
At Latomia Latouros’s Dali quarry, new Cat 988K and 966M XE wheeled loaders, three new Cat 772G rigid dump trucks, and the new Cat D10T2 crawler dozer have impressed. Fitted with a CAT C18 ACERT 403kW Stage V engine, when utilising economy mode the Cat 988K is said to offer up to 15% better fuel efficiency than its predecessor. The model is also said to come with up to 10% lower maintenance cost, thanks to grouped service points making regular maintenance more convenient, and up to 10% more productivity in most truck-loading applications when using performance series buckets with increased capacities. In terms of Cat machines, Latomia Latouros also operates another Cat 966M XE, bought new in 2017, which with the new Cat 966M XE is loading the finished products to the customers’ trucks.
At Latomio Pyrgon’s quarry, another new Cat 988K wheeled loader, and two other Cat 772G dump trucks are proving highly efficient and productive in their loading and hauling duties. With a 47.2-tonne payload, Cat 772G trucks come with a 415kW Cat C18 ACERT Stage IV engine and 31.2m³ body capacity. Speed limiting is a new feature for G Series trucks and is offered as an alternative to gear limiting. It offers customers both fuel-saving and component-wear benefits. Speed limiting allows the truck to find the most fuel-efficient gear and engine speed while travelling at a set limit. Speed limiting will also work with Automatic Retarding Control (ARC). Latomio Pyrgon, just like Latomia Latouros, bought in 2017 a new Cat 966M XE for loading the finished products to the customers’ trucks.
A new 87-tonne class Cat 390F hydraulic excavator has replaced a Cat 390D model at Latouros Gypsum’s quarry. The Cat 390F features a Cat C18 ACERT Stage IV engine. It is said to offer up to 5% more productivity as the model’s hydraulic system allows for quicker and more precise material movement. The model’s cab is 3 DB(A) quieter, allowing operators to work in greater comfort due to less interior noise. Bought new in September 2014, the replaced Cat 390D is now working at Latomia Latouros’s Dali site.
Finally, a new Cat MH3024 material handler is busy helping to recycle C&D waste for Recycling Point – Latouros & Xenis Bros. Benefiting from a premium Cat C7.1 Stage IV engine and constant power strategy, the MH3024 is said to respond quickly to changing loads while delivering the same amount of power in any operating conditions. The 22.9-24.1-tonne payload machine is also said to supply up to 10% lower fuel consumption than its predecessor, and fantastic versatility thanks to its flexible configurations and multi-attachment compatibility.
The sand products produced at LG’s calcareous limestone quarries are unique, given how the island was created by, as Latouros puts it, “coming up from below the sea”. As such, Latouros says it is not unusual to find fossils at his group’s calcareous limestone quarry sites.
“We work with natural sea sand. All other quarries in Cyprus produce crushed sand. Our natural sand’s particles are spherical shaped, so it works like a bearing when used in construction applications as part of a concrete mix. This gives better workability and allows you to reduce the water-cement ratio in your concrete. The less water, the higher the concrete strength. It also means you use less cement, reducing your costs.
“We have a very good reputation in Cyprus for the quality of our products, and a very good relationship with our customers and the local communities,” Latouros adds. “With the unique calcareous limestone-based sand produced at our Latouros and Elmeni quarries in Dali, we are the only quarries in Cyprus that sell a unique calcareous limestone product not only in the district where it is quarried but across the whole island.”
As the COVID-19 pandemic reached its height in Europe during the second quarter of this year, a Cypriot government decree shutting down construction sites between 25th March and 4th May led to most quarries, including LG’s four sites, reducing and latterly completely stopping production due to what Latouros describes as “near to zero” sales during that time. “We operated for a couple of weeks in order to increase our stocks of finished products, and then we carried out some maintenance works on our crushing plants and machines,” he explains.
Latouros says that quarrying and construction sectors are now pretty much back up to full operational speed, with demand for building materials remaining strong.
“Regarding COVID-19, for the time being, it seems that the impact on the local construction industry, in general, is not that much. The quarry industry will have an approximate drop in sales for 2020 of about 5% compared to 2019.
“The coronavirus affected us in the delays we had on the deliveries of our 11 new Cat machines due to several COVID-19 protocols taking place at the ports around the world. Our new models have come from Caterpillar factories in the USA, Brazil, France, India, and China.”
At Latomia Latouros’s Dali quarry, two parallel plant lines are used to process the initial Cat D102T crawler dozer ripper-excavated calcareous limestone. The new Cat 988K wheeled loader loads the excavated material into the Cat 772G RDTs which haul it to the Telsmith grizzly feeders which feed the excavated and hauled material into 500 tonnes per hour Telsmith 3050 and 2250 jaw crushers. On being crushed by the Telsmith 3050 plant, the material goes through two 7ft x 20ft Telsmith double-deck screeners. The second plant line sees material fed via the grizzly feeder into the Telsmith 2250 jaw crusher and then screened by a 6ft x 20ft and a 6ft x 16ft double-deck Telsmith screeners. Around 90% of the quarry’s final 0-4mm product is passing 2mm.
Any +5mm oversize material remaining after the initial crushing and screening process on the two plant lines is conveyed to two up to 350 tonnes-per-hour capacity Magotteaux MAG’Impact 2400 VSI (vertical shaft impactors, one for each plant) and then looped round via a conveyor to the Telsmith screeners for processing into final grade product. Any undersized material is conveyed to two (for each plant) rod mills, each fitted with an Elkayam hydrocyclone, for washing out/removing the fines and processing into a saleable product.
All the 1,000m³/hour of water used at the two plants for washing the sand is then passed through a water recycling plant manufactured by French company MS, managing to retain 95% of the water used in the site’s production. “We use around 1,000m³ of water per hour in our production. If you do not have a quality recycling system, it’s virtually impossible to operate in Cyprus due to water scarcity. The only water we lose is the humidity in our products and in the filter-pressed cakes. Our recycling system was installed in 2004 and is the only one on the island. In 2013, we won a UEPG (European Aggregates Association) Environmental Best Practice Award for operating it.”
Around 95% of LG’s sand/aggregates products are used in concrete for infrastructure and commercial and residential building projects. The rest is used in plaster-based applications.
Cypriot aggregates production in 2019 stood at 8,422,664 tonnes – a rise of 5.5% on 7,978,000 tonnes in 2018. After a period of COVID-19-induced disruption, Latouros, who is president of the Cyprus Aggregates Producers Association and UEPG’s first vice president, says sand/aggregates product demand is very good again thanks to the start of some major government – and private investment-backed construction works.
Given the return of a promising trading outlook, LG’s significant investment in new Caterpillar machinery is looking like a shrewd and potentially lucrative move.
