Taming the mountain
October 23, 2008 By: Darren Constantino, North Coast Media Pit & QuarryAbout three years ago, Southern West Virginia Asphalt’s Kelly Mountain Quarry made a radical change. The operation dramatically altered its plant by installing new conveyor systems and a new tertiary crusher, and, in the process, relocated much of its plant.
The results were cost savings, increased efficiency, higher production and a cleaner in-spec product.
The Kelly Mountain Quarry sits on the edge of the picturesque Appalachian Mountains in West Virginia. Mining began at the site in the 1960s, but went dormant in the early ’70s. Site Superintendent Dave Matthew started as a vehicle operator in 1983, the year the operation went back online. Two years later, in 1985, Matthew became superintendent.
Now part of the Oldcastle Materials Group, the site operates with 12 employees and provides crushed stone to a market area of about 50 miles in radius. The largest customer, by far, is the company’s own asphalt plant, which operates just a conveyor belt away from the aggregates plant above.
Material flow from shotrock to delivered product is helped along the way by gravity, as the entire operation sits on the side of Kelly Mountain.
Tertiary crusher
One of the major additions to the plant was installation about three years ago of a new tertiary crusher. The Terex Cedarapids Eljay Rollercone MVP 380 provides SWV Asphalt with the cubical product it needs, and offers easy adjustment and maintenance.
“We needed throughput, because about 40 percent of our production goes through this unit,” Matthew said. “So we wanted a larger crusher that would deliver a more cubical product.”
The installation process was “pretty simple,” according to Matthew. Terex Cedarapids brought in people, and help also came from Miller Trevvett of the Terex Cedarapids distributor in the area — Old Dominion Equipment & Supply. “Miller and the Cedarapids people did a great job,” Matthew said.
The new Rollercone MVP features a high-efficiency, frictionless design that puts more power into crushing action. According to the manufacturer, the unit produces more product per hour, and it permits holding tighter settings accurately.
“Matthew has had experience with a variety of crusher manufacturers over the span of his career, and, when it came time to replace his third stage, he didn’t hesitate to tell me he wanted another Cedarapids product,” Trevvett said. “I explained the advantages he would realize with the MVP in the manufacture of the clean cubical product they use in their asphalt plant, as well as the ease of operation.”
According to Trevvett, the Kelly Mountain plant is put together to be versatile. The MVP could see up to three types of rock in a variety of feed sizes in a short time. It’s easy to change the closed-side setting on this unit, and the MVP is able to hold that setting.
Matthew said the new tertiary has met all of his company’s expectations.
Kelly Mountain operation
In addition to the Terex Cedarapids tertiary cone crusher, the site utilizes a variety of other crushing, screening, material handling and mobile equipment.
It starts with drilling and blasting, which take place once or twice a week and are both outsourced. Drilling is handled by 3D Drilling of Kingwood, W.Va., and blasting is done by Austin Powder. Matthew said about 20,000 to 25,000 tons of material are brought down with each blast.
Face loading is done with a Caterpillar 988, which loads a 50-ton Cat 772 and a 40-ton Euclid hauler. Smaller Cat and Komatsu loaders also are used around the yard.
Most mobile-equipment repairs are handled in-house by four company employees, as well as by the vehicle manufacturers’ own maintenance personnel.
Shotrock is hauled to one of two primary crushers — a Missouri Rogers 46x54 and a Terex Cedarapids 30x42 jaw. Secondary crushers include a Telsmith 44-in. cone crusher and a Telsmith 52x53 impact crusher. A Universal 5150 is also used in a secondary role.
Screening equipment from Deister Machine Co. and Terex Simplicity is employed at the site, including two triple-deck 8-ft. x 20-ft. Deister units; one 5-ft. x 16-ft. triple-deck Terex Simplicity screen; and one 5-ft. x 12-ft. double-deck Deister.
Wayne Collett, plant foreman, is especially pleased with the performance of the site’s Flex-Mat screens from Major Wire Industries Ltd. The Flex-Mat media is installed on two of the operation’s triple-deck screens and on the 5-ft. x 12-ft. high-speed Deister.
The previous screen media required cleaning twice a day, and it took 30 to 40 minutes each time to beat the screen out, according to Collett. “These Flex-Mat screens have completely eliminated downtime,” Collett said. “There’s no blinding.”
According to Major Wire, Flex-Mat media have been proven to increase production 20 to 40 percent. Polyurethane strips, centered on each screen deck crown bar support, allow individual wires to vibrate independently at different frequencies, preventing material from accumulating between wires as it typically does with woven wire. And, the manufacturer said, Flex-Mat lasts up to three times longer than woven wire.
In addition to the uptime, the site benefits from a cleaner, more in-spec product. According to Collett, “Now we can run with more water to eliminate dust, and there’s still no blinding.”
Matthew said he first read about Flex-Mat in Pit & Quarry. He asked Trevvett about it, and discovered that Trevvett’s company carries the product. “It’s great stuff,” Matthew said. “It really works.”
The use of Flex-Mat also has resulted in cleaner air for the community and additional safety for the workers, who no longer need to clean blinded screens.
Plant changes
Another increase in production occurred by relocating part of the plant. The changes were Matthew’s idea — the installation of additional conveyors to lessen reliance on mobile equipment.
“And I received great support from Dan Cooperider, president and CEO of the Mid-Atlantic region for Oldcastle.” The idea turned into a joint project developed by Matthew, Cooperider and Collett.
“I wanted three conveyors, and Dan suggested more,” Matthew said. “The three of us worked on the design for six weeks, along with Miller [from Old Dominion] and people from Kemper Equipment.”
The system, which includes six new conveyors, greatly reduced the use of mobile vehicles (three haul trucks to one), which was the driving factor for the plant renovation. Matthew is pleased there is less need for haul trucks and the personnel to operate them.
“The conveyors are there for work everyday, and they don’t give me any back-talk,” Matthew joked. The project resulted in a significant savings in fuel and labor costs, and increased production about 10 to 15 percent.
Sixty percent of finished product is sent by conveyor to the company’s asphalt operation just down the hill from the quarry. The rest is shipped out by truck, and SWV Asphalt has its own fleet of 30 on-road vehicles.
The cubical product sent to the asphalt plant is an anti-skid, unpolished stone. The market area for the company’s other products is about a 50-mile radius from the Kelly Mountain operation.
“We try to operate 12 months a year,” Matthew said, “though sometimes we close for four to six weeks in the winter owing to the weather. If that happens, we do maintenance during the downtime.”
The operation produces about 600,000 tons of material per year, on the 128-acre site. There are about 15 years of reserves remaining, and SWV Asphalt has the option to buy 100 more acres from a private owner in the area.
Ten acres have been reclaimed thus far, and future site reclamation plans continue to call for returning the land to nature for wildlife use. SWV Asphalt is also a good neighbor, donating stone for community use at ballparks and churches.
The site operates with 12 employees, and new hires receive a good deal of safety training. In addition to Part 46 training, the operation implements a Six-S Program and TRACK Program — both part of Oldcastle procedures.
Jeffrey Withrow, safety director for Oldcastle’s Appalachian Materials Group, said the Six-S Program is centered on housekeeping and organization in an effort to increase efficiency. The six S’s include:
• Sort
• Set in order
• Sweep and shine
• Standardize
• Sustain
• Safety
The TRACK Program is an acronym for:
• Think through the task
• Recognize the hazards
• Assess the risk\
• Control the hazards
• Keep safety first
Through operation efficiencies and concern for his community and employees, Matthew has things running smoothly at SWV Asphalt’s Kelly Mountain Quarry. .
Terex Cedarapids, www.cedarapids.com
Major Wire Industries Ltd., www.fintec.com
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