by Diana Barnum, Correspondent
Sometimes it’s difficult to set up a plant between a rock and a hard
place. One way to solve this issue at the Pipe Creek Jr. Plant, an Irving
Materials, Inc. (IMI) aggregate operation outside Swayzee, Indiana, was to
go portable.
“We had an old Missouri Rogers Impactor and needed to mine
beside it,” said Paul Rich, construction engineer at Pipe Creek Jr. “But
we couldn’t find a good location for a permanent crusher.”
Pipe Creek
Jr. mines limestone and calcium. Of their three plant operations on site,
one is a fine-grind and makes calcium products mainly for animals; chicken
grit, 16-mesh to mix with cattle feed and dog food, feed supplement for
grain companies and mineral filler to mix with tar for shingles, like the
ones produced by Owens Corning. The other two operations are stone plants,
largely supplying stone for highways. Bagging and lawn and garden
operations are also onsite. Pipe Creek Jr. is a big participant in the
Ag-Lime operations in conjunction with the Indiana Mineral Aggregates
Association.
So they started looking around at portable models. They needed a unit
that they could feed with haul trucks, or loaders. On a lot of portable
plants the feed hopper was just too high to feed with trucks. Also feed
hoppers take a beating, and cause a lot of maintenance. The feeder-breaker
type crushers solve both problems. Just when they were about to settle on
a German model they liked, a contact told them about a McLanahan
Corporation Impact Feeder-Breaker his client had just purchased in
Illinois. Pipe Creek checked out the machine and especially liked the
price tag and the fact that it was Made in America, and bought it.
“We
had ours set up before they (Illinois plant) did,” said Rich.
Operations
On the east side of Pipe Creek Jr. is their
Symons 4.25 secondary plant, with a Norberg HP 300 tertiary crusher,
Deister screens, an Eagle classifying tank and screw on the wash plant and
homemade conveyors. Products are state and commercial stone and stone for
calcium products in all sizes.
West side operations use an HP 200
secondary crusher with a Missouri Rogers Primary Impactor with Teledyne
breaker, Deister screens, no washing machines and a Thor stacking
conveyor. Products are the same as on the east
side.
Advantages
In addition to saving on the front end
purchase, the IFB up-front cost was much less money than other portable
plants at the 1,000 tph goal for which the company was looking. The Impact
Feeder-Breaker purchase allowed the company to reduce the use of the 769
CAT trucks that were used to feed the old stationary crusher, by about
80%. At present time they must still use haul trucks to haul from the
lower bench because no conveyer systems are installed yet. This meant more
savings, not only from truck maintenance and use, but with fewer employee
payroll hours.
Another advantage is continued portability around shots,
as they move the machine from one side of their acreage to the other as
shots are set up.
It takes 4 people 2-1/2 to 4 hours to completely tear
down, relocate, setup and get back to running the plant. With three 150’
portable conveyers, and an electrical shack with special hitches to hook a
loader to, the electric shack has all the motor controls and a transformer
in one portable package. Overhead line power is run close to the different
shot locations and a short run of mining cable hooks the power up to the
transformer.
The electrical cost is about the same as the old system; however the
old system was 600 tph, and the new system can do over 1000 tph.
The
IFB has more wear than the old Missouri-Rogers impactor, but the money
saved by not running haul trucks more than makes up for it.
IMI feels
this type of crusher works rather well in soft limestone, however in
harder limestone, it may not be as cost effective due to high wear
cost.
Long term savings is yet to be determined, but the use of their
Teledyne rock breaker was also eliminated from this operation.
“Here at
this location, we use all the fines we can get. However the IFB makes no
more fines than any other setup. The IFB does do a better overall
reduction ratio than anything else. Without a breaker!” said
Rich.
Greatest Challenge
And the greatest challenge at Pipe Creek
Jr.?
“Keeping things going and finding good help,” said Rich.
“Sometimes it’s a lot of hours. And a different generation is lacking a
strong work ethic.”
Pipe Creek Jr. averages around 30-32 full-time
staff. But they’ve been going strong since they were established in 1970,
just down the road from Pipe Creek Stone, now converted into a machine
shop / repair center…another example of portability.
For more
information, contact Irving Materials, Inc., 8032 North State Road 9,
Greenfield, IN 46140; 317-326-3101 (ph); or fax inquiries to317-326-7727;
or go online at http://www.irvmat.com/
To learn more about impact feeders and other aggregate equipment,
contact McLanahan Corporation, 200 Wall Street, Hollidaysburg, PA 16648;
814-695-9807(ph); 814-695-6684 (fax); or go online at http://www.quarrynews.com/www.mclanahan.com |