Quarrying is essential for extracting raw materials like sand, stone, gravel, clay, and coal from the earth. Because it is such an essential part of construction manufacturing and even agriculture, if you are at the helm of any quarrying operation, you need to ensure that you have the correct machinery available.
The list of necessary equipment is quite long and will depend in part on which material you happen to be quarrying. However, some pieces will be essential regardless of what you are doing.
#1 Excavators
These consist of a hydraulic arm on a moveable base, which can be fitted with a number of attachments to complete the job at hand. These are essential for both digging and moving all of the various raw materials from the quarry. They can also be used for preparation if blasting is required and occasionally used for trenching if electronic cables or piping need to be laid somewhere on the site.
#2 Conveyors
Conveyors, like excavators, come in all shapes and sizes, so you will need to pick the right one. They are used to transport the quarried materials from one stage of the process to another and also for the final loading onto trucks for transportation. Because they work at a consistent speed, the material they carry is delivered to the next part of the process, typically a crusher or screener, at a consistent rate, so at no point will those pieces of equipment become overloaded.
#3 Loaders
In addition to conveyors, you will also need loaders for this stage or to move materials around from one part of the process to another. You will have to look at the site in question to assess which of these you will need or if you will require both.
#4 Crushers
An important part of the process for any quarried material is carried out by a crusher. As the name suggests, it crushes large, quarried materials into smaller pieces, and the size of these pieces will depend on the eventual use of the raw material. This can vary from construction materials like concrete for road bases or even building foundations or decorative stone for landscaping.
#5 Screeners
Screeners are machines used in quarries to separate materials according to size, shape, or composition. This means that by using a screener sand, topsoil, coal, gravel, ore, and more can be screened and sorted quickly and efficiently. They are typically made up of multiple layers of screens with different-sized openings that either catch pieces of quarried materials or fall through according to size. They are also used for quality control to ensure that the sand being produced meets required standards or specifications.
To sum everything up
To make sure industries are provided with the materials they need in the right quantities and quality, having the right machinery in your quarrying operation is of paramount importance. You will need equipment to remove materials from the quarry wall or floor and then transport them so they can be crushed and then screened to ensure the right product is created. From there, you will also need equipment to load it onto the correct type of transport to take it to its final destination.
