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After more than three years of development, BedRock Software (BedRock) has announced the latest version of its popular AggFlow program.

AggFlow Design and Manage (AggFlowDM, now available, represents a new generation of simulation software to manage and optimise a quarry, mine or aggregate plant operation.

AggFlowDM is a hybrid program that allows users to work online or offline and to share projects with other users. The sharing capabilities allow aggregate process engineers, consultants and equipmen

A custom-built Terex Washing Systems’ sand and gravel wash plant has been installed at a site in the Caribbean. The plant was installed for the Northern Ireland company by its global distributor, DUO, at the Readymix West Indies (W.I.) site in Valencia, Trinidad. “The Trinidad sand and gravel wash plant is a demonstration of another complex plant offered by DUO and TWS. Both DUO and TWS carefully considered the customer’s specific needs and manufactured a custom plant. This is supported by DUO’s specialist

A Cemex quarry in the town of Pickering, County North Yorkshire, England, has staved off the threat of mothballing following planning permission approval. This follows an approach from York Potash to supply aggregates for the construction of its mine site. As part of its commitment to use local suppliers, York Potash has indicated that Newbridge Quarry, owned by Cemex UK, would be a preferred supplier due to its proximity to the mine and could provide aggregates for the three-year construction phase of the

Tyres are an expensive part of equipment used in quarries and the longer they last the better as Patrick Smith reports

There is a perception that, compared to mining, quarrying is the soft side of the mineral resource industries.

Yet a quarry’s geology can be just as aggressive and demanding as winning Canadian Kimberlite, Chilean copper or Australian anthracite.

And, when it comes to load and haul, a quarry is just as likely to employ big loaders such as Caterpillar 990s and 992s; Komatsu WA 800

One of Poland’s largest aggregates producers, DSS Group, has acquired a new Hitachi ZX670LC-5 for its quarry at Pilawa Górna in Lower Silesia. The company took delivery of the Zaxis-5 large excavator from Polish Hitachi dealer Tona as a key part of its strategy for aggregates production at the site. The DSS Group, owned by Dolnoslaskie Surowce Skalne, is the largest domestic producer of crushed aggregates for infrastructure projects. It has a licence to extract amphibolite (a metamorphic rock) and migmatite

Welsh quarry operator and civil engineering contractor GD Harries & Sons is expanding its business. The company has added four machines from local Case Construction Equipment dealer Riverlea. Based in Narberth, west Wales, GD Harries & Sons has taken delivery of two Case CX350C crawler excavators; a 1021F wheeled loader and an 821F for use in its seven quarry sites throughout the region. In the past 18 months GD Harries & Sons has acquired four granite and two limestone quarries, and it also runs three con

Energy efficiency and recycling are understandably becoming increasingly important to asphalt plants manufacturers and their customers as Patrick Smith reports.

New mixes, such as warm-mix asphalt; special additives and innovative plant designs are all contributing to reducing costs while producing high quality asphalt.

As if to illustrate the point, Turkish asphalt and machinery producer E-Mak, part of Turkish construction conglomerate Simge Group, has sold a Super GT asphalt plant to German comp

When blasting is not a viable option because of legal regulations or proximity of houses or other buildings, a large-sized excavator equipped with a heavy and powerful breaker is often the answer to get high productivity without the risk of excessive vibrations, noise and splinters dangerously flying away.

The crawler excavator market has seen many new and improved machines this year, several benefitting from an increasing move towards new technologies such as hybrid drives. Dan Gilkes reports.

While this year’s bauma exhibition in Munich, Germany, saw numerous machines being launched with EU Stage IIIB/US Tier 4 Interim engines, to comply with legislation, engine manufacturers and some OEMs were already looking forward to 2014/5 and the introduction of Stage IV/Tier 4 Final.

The bad news for customers

A Scottish quarry near Aberdeen was recently the site of one of the most intense crushing and screening operations ever seen, writes Patrick Smith.

“It is not easy to get 13 machines in one place at one time and get them all working, including eight in a line,” says Nigel Irvine, Terex Finlay’s director, sales and marketing.

This was achieved at the company’s customer days, which were held at the quarry to show much of the company’s equipment at work, including the new Terex Finlay 684, two-deck tra

Demand for good-quality stone has risen in recent years and operators are still looking to maximise their potential reserves in order to make their operations both economic and profitable. Although much of the UK quarrying industry,

along with others in Europe, is currently suffering from the effects of the economic downturn, restrictions on the opening of new quarries and the development of existing sites has meant that matching production to demand has become a

challenging balancing act.

Comp

The bulldozer is a key machine for earthmoving operations and can play an important role in setting up new quarry sites writes Mike Woof. Bulldozers are also widely used in haul road construction and maintenance in extraction operations, with good work being highly important for an efficient and reliable haulage operation. Bulldozers can also be used for extraction in some operations, using rippers to break up surface deposits.

Swiss cement manufacturer Holcim is to acquire the activities of UK cement supplier Cemex in Germany. Holcim will also sell the Cesko unit to Cemex and merge its activities with the activities of Cemex in Spain. The deals are intended to enhance the portfolio of Holcim in Europe. The Ebitda is expected to increase by at least €20 million. To secure the deal, Holcim will pay €70 million to Cemex. The deals will be finalised in Q4 2013.

Dagestanavtodor is aiming to start asphalt concrete production in Makhachkala (North Caucasus), Russia. The Summa group purchased equipment from Kredmash DS-168637, a high-tech asphalt plant in Ukraine. The plant is fuelled by natural gas and equipped with microprocessor control system with sock filters. Its nominal capacity is 160tonnes/hour of asphalt concrete.

NCC Roads’ Marjamäki aggregate production site located in Lempäälä, Finland, saw a high-powered rock processing operation when two companies, JJ Kaivin ja Kallio and Veljekset Mäkitalo, established their crushing operations side-by-side. The two companies operate comparable Sandvik plant, with similar first two stages of the process, although with differing production methods, and have both benefitted from proactive maintenance thereby boosting the sites total production.

Crushing and screening plant from Atlas Copco Powercrusher is playing a big part in a major Italian highway project. The Quadrilatero Project in the Marche Umbria regions includes the completion and upgrading of two main A road arteries: the Foligno-Civitanova Marche Strada statale SS77 and Perugia-Ancona SS76 and SS318 and the Pedemontana Fabriano-Muccia/Sfercia road.

About 25km north of the city of Aberdeen on Scotland’s east coast is the town of Ellon. Driving through the city on the way to James Jamieson’s Ardlethen Quarry just outside Ellon, it is not difficult to see how it got its nickname, writes Patrick Smith. Best known as the Granite City, it is also called the Grey City after the material that was quarried nearby, and of which much of it is built.

Recycling rock salt and grit could be a money-spinner says Peter Craven of CDEnviro The effects of the European Union’s Landfill Directive together with the annual increase in Landfill Tax have significantly increased the cost of disposal of gully waste. In the UK this is approximately £50 (€58.8)/tonne but it will rise to £80 (€94)/tonne in 2014 in the UK although other parts of Europe it may differ. As a consequence it has increased the operating costs for companies providing gully emptying services. The

In comparison to many of the more established markets around the world, Romania appears to have a general optimism among Eastern Europe’s aggregates markets, writes Julie-Anne Ryan. Alongside the Africa/Middle East region, it was expected to see significant growth in construction aggregates consumption in the near future. But it’s slow in coming.

Marine planning and conservation is a complex topic on all counts. Ian Lamond, of Stephens Scown LLP explains how the European Union is working towards safeguarding the marine environment within the region. The UK has an incredible 18,000 kilometres of coastline, and the seas surrounding these are home to some of the best marine wildlife in Europe. Many important marine species and habitats are protected through a number of interlocking and sometimes overlapping designations.