Industry
Left to right: Richard Abraham , Mark Robinson, Andrew Ward and Darren Lack
whilst Richard has been in charge of all quarry operations for the last three years. Also on site we met Production Supervisor, Darren Lack, who oversees the day to day operations on the sports sand plant.
“Extracting large amounts of silica sand
requires a huge investment in machinery and technology,” explained Richard. “We have two Caterpillar self eleavting scrapers, each worth over £250,000, one large bulldozer used for ripping sandstone, four loading shovels and a number of lorries to transport sand around the quarry. The diesel bill alone runs into many thousands of pounds a month. Then there is the washing, drying and bagging plants that are in continual use. Over one mile of conveyer belts are in place to transport sand to the various processing plants alone.”
“Every grain of sand is used in one way or another. Basically, all the excavated sand goes through several processes before it is finally bagged or loaded onto a lorry to be dispatched to the end user.” “The Caterpillar scrapers collect about eighteen tonnes of the raw sand a time, and then transport it to a designated forty tonne ground hopper which feeds the conveyor belts that distribute the sand to the specialist hydro classification washing plant. This complex washing process is designed to produce the specific grades of sand as required and can cope with as much as 150 tonnes per hour. Capital investment for this type of washing plant alone is well over one million pounds.”
“The washed sand can then be either
delivered to the customer moist, fed into the sand drying plant or sent to the Sports Sands plant to be blended with organics and fibres as required by the customer. They have the ability to mix several different ratios of rootzone/compost products - 80/20, 70/30, 60/40 and 50/50. and even sterilise sand/organic blends through another specialist rotary drier specifically designed for the purpose.” In recent years, the company has also invested heavily in their sand bagging plant, which has the ability to bag products in various size bags. Richard also explained the work they will be undertaking to get the new quarry up and running, by gradually dismantling certain areas of the production plant and moving it to the new quarry, whilst taking an opportunity to buy new equipment as required. The attention to detail, cleanliness of the site and the importance put on inspections and quality control goes part way to explaining why something as ‘simple’ as sand appears to be costly. Add in the considerable cost of the specialist processing plants, transporting these bulk materials, whether they are in bags or loose loads, to all parts of the UK, plus the fluctuating cost of diesel and ever changing regulations, and it is no wonder we have to pay between £25-100 per tonne for specialist materials. I certainly have a better understanding of how this type of product is brought to market following my visit.
Andrew Ward with sieving tins
Did you know that Mansfield Sand...
• Has been quarrying sand in Mansfield for nearly 200 years
• Won a Gold Medal at the Great Exhibition in 1851, held at Crystal Palace, for its Mansfield Red Moulding Sand
• Has been manufacturing bricks on its site at Sandhurst Avenue for over ninety years
• Has recently invested £9m in a new state-of-the-art brick production facility on Crown Farm Way, Mansfield. The plant is the most modern and technically advanced in Europe
• Supplies over 400 golf courses across the UK with rootzone materials, topdressing and bunker sand
• Supplied the surface for the first all-weather racing track at Southwell in 1989
• Supplies 20 Premiership clubs, 24 Championship clubs and 120 other football league clubs with materials for their pitches
• Is one of the largest users of recycled compost in the country
• Fill over 1.5 million bags each year with sand
One of the many conveyor belts The new quarry site at Two Oaks Farm APRIL/MAY 2013 PC 125
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