an extensive product range. While they
do not make washed riversand or plaster
sand, Howards Quarry can also source these
supplies from its neighbours, allowing their
customers to collect all their products from
a sole source.
The plant has a capacity of about
60 000 to 80 000 tonnes per month, with a
flexible design that allows for an increase
to upwards of 120 000 tonnes per month
through the easy addition of modular or
mobile units. The plant design also allows
particular sections to be taken offline to
accommodate fluctuating demand. “The
plant was designed to allow us to change
quickly between products by opening and
closing chutes. So on this side, I can make
dump rock and a 26mm ballast, and on the
other side, I can pull out a 19mm, a 13mm,
and a 9.5mm — seven products in all,”
Kamfer explains. “And if I decide that I have
enough 19mm, for example, I can just close
that chute and send the rock down to the
next level.”
“We also have an extra feeder next to the
stockpile that allows me to feed through
product if we need to put in another piece
of plant,” he adds. “However, this isn’t
something I foresee us needing to do any
time soon, as our secondary plant came in
the run at quite a high tonnes per hour rate,
and our primary plant is now trying to keep
up with supplying two production lines.”
All the machines are maintained on site in the workshop, with Babcock only coming out to
do the major services for the machines that are still under warranty.
On-site maintenance
Given the cost and logistical challenges
of getting power from Eskom, Howards
Quarry runs completely off grid, using three
synchronised B&E gensets.
The fleet, comprising predominantly
Volvo machines, loads up after the blast and
transports the rock to the custom-built plant
for crushing and screening. All the machines
are maintained on site in the workshop, with
Babcock only coming out to do the major
services for the machines that are still under
warranty. “These excavators are already
standing on around 20 000 to 21 000 hours,
and we are still working,” says Kamfer.
The oil change system has been designed to
eliminate used oil being carried or transported
through the workshop. “When the truck
pulls in to get serviced, we pull the trolley
underneath the truck, drain the oil, and then
pump it out to the used oil drums, where it is
stored until the drums are nearly full. At that
point, we call the guys who come to collect the
used oil, and they connect their trucks up to
the drums and pump the oil back out.”
“We also do all our own plant
maintenance, as well as full refurbishing
of our buckets on site to help keep the cost
per tonne down,” says Kamfer. At the time
22 _ QUARRY SA | SEPTEMBER 2017
The plant design allows particular sections to be taken offline — or mobile plants added
— to accommodate fluctuating demand.
The high quality of the dolerite orebody, coupled with the custom design of the crushing
and screening plant, allows for an extensive product range.