Somewhere old, something new: boone Quarries-East, our 2004 Producer of the Year, built a completely new plant in its 70-year-old quarry

Pit & Quarry, August, 2004 by Darren Constantino

When Billy Sapp and Alan Barnes decided to replace the existing plant at their Boone Quarries-East operation, they knew the job would have to be done quickly. With the help of their equipment distributor, Continental Equipment Co., the team embarked on a wintertime project that resulted in higher production and finished product that meets tight specs.

The quarry at Boone Quarries-East, Columbia, Mo., is said to have been around since the time of the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s. After changing hands through the years, Boone Quarries purchased the site from Cemex in 1997. Last year, Sapp and Barnes decided that replacing the old plant would give them higher capacity. "We sat down at a table," Barnes says, "we told [Continental Equipment] what we needed, and they put it together for us."

Along with personnel from Boone Quarries and Continental Equipment, one of the key people involved in designing, building, installing and start-up of the plant was Steve Cook, Cook's Fabrication, who served as a production and installation leader.

"We put them under the gun to get this plant up," Sapp says. "We only had a certain amount of time to take the old plant down and get the new one up. I commend them for it." Sapp is extremely pleased with the installation of the new plant, and the results.

"This plant went together very, very well," he says. "We started operating with less problems, by far, than we normally would have starting up a new plant."

The Telsmith primary crusher from the original plant was kept in place. Other than that, all new equipment was installed. The new plant went online February 1 and began operating at full capacity by the middle of that month.

Operations

Boone Quarries operates two sites--East and West--which are about one mile apart. The company performs its own drilling and blasting, doing so about three times a week at each location.

At the Boone Quarries-East face, a Komatsu WA 600 front-end loader loads four Caterpillar 50-ton haul trucks, which haul material to the new plant adjacent the quarry. Other mobile equipment operated at the site includes five additional Cat loaders--three 988Fs and two 980s.

The higher capacity of the new plant affected the amount of mobile equipment needed. "Our whole operation is expanding," Sapp says. "We expanded to two customer loaders here. The market also has an effect."

The haul trucks dump shot rock at the Telsmith 3055 primary jaw. Crushed rock passes a scalping screen and the material from the top deck is either pulled off for large finished product or sent to the Sandvik S4800 Hydrocone secondary crusher.

Material from the second deck is pulled off for gabion rock or sent to the S4800. Third deck material is used as sized course rock or combined with fines, while material passing all decks is either stockpiled for base or sent to the dual screening plant.

Material sent the S4800 joins material from the H6800 Hydrocone tertiary crusher on a common belt to the dual screening plant.

Dual screening plant

Material from the top deck is sent to the H6800 cone, and second deck material is pulled off for concrete rock (primary product). Material from the third deck can be combined with concrete rock or pulled off for a chip product. Passing material is sent to a PEP (now Astec Mobile Screens Inc.) screen where the 1/8-in. material is separated from fines, making chips and minimizing waste.

The list of stationary equipment in the plant includes:

* Telsmith 3055 jaw crusher.

* Sandvik S4800 Hydrocone secondary crusher.

* Sandvik H6800 Hydrocone tertiary crusher with ASRi automation system.

* Simplicity 3820 dual mechanism screen with 160-mm bearing (structure has blending capabilities).

* Dual Simplicity 3824 dual mechanism screens with 160-mm bearings (structure has blending capabilities).

* One PEP screen.

* Surge bin.

* Five Belt-Way belt scales.

* One 42-in. x 100-ft. radial stacker.

* One 30-in. x 100-ft. radial stacker.

* Six load out bins.

* Dust suppression system.

Technology

This upgrade to state-of-the art equipment and automation has resulted in a highly productive plant that produces tight spec products, with drastically reduced maintenance required. Safety was another major criteria.

The new plant was set up to produce 700 tph, however, officials at Continental Equipment say this number can be exceeded depending on the products produced. According to Sapp and Barnes, the new plant has met all expectations.

"We're very pleased with the Sandvik equipment," Sapp says. "We're on a little bit of a learning curve, so we think it'll even get better. After just two weeks of operation, we started making Superpave rock here."

Hydrocone crushers continuously adjust on the fly. Equipped with Sandvik Rock Processing's ASRi (automatic setting regulation) automation system, the operators have the ability to monitor crushing load to optimize crusher utilization and keep track of liner wear.

The ASRi system allows the plant operator to select crusher settings based on products needing to be produced that day and maintain gradations from job to job. Adjustments can be made while the crusher is running to fine tune gradations. By monitoring variables, a more accurate cost per ton can be determined and easier plant flow can be maintained.