Sila Sanon Quarry adopt mobile solutions to satisfy growing Thai aggregates demand

The Sila Sanon limestone quarry is currently playing a key role in providing high quality aggregates for the growing Thai construction industry. In order to do this the family owned operation has recently invested in a full range of crushing and screening plant supplied by Sandvik Construction's dealer in Thailand, the William Wong Group. Through the use of this new equipment the quarry is now able to supply over 200,000 tons of accurately sized materials on a monthly basis.

Situated just over 100km north of Bangkok, Silasanon Quarry is located in Thailand's Saraburi province. Operational now for almost thirty years, it was established in 1983 by the father and grandfather of the current owners, Chayuth Busitarnuntakul and Bhisanu Busitarnuntakul. The family now owns and manages some of the biggest quarry operations in Saraburi province, with Sila Sanon being just one of twelve quarries in the area. However, it was the Sila Sanon quarry that was identified as requiring investment in order to fully take advantage of the limestone deposits to be found.

The materials present are required by the rapidly growing Thai construction and minerals industries that possesses an almost insatiable demand for high grade limestone. To this end Messrs Busitarnuntakul realised that if they were to satisfy market demand for high quality, accurately sized products, then they needed to invest in modern, highly productive crushing and screening systems.

The father and son Busitarnuntakul team realised that an investment of the magnitude required necessitated taking expert advice from screening and crushing professionals who would be able to offer first class guidance regarding the very latest developments in screening and crushing technology. Thus, they had no hesitation in contacting the William Wong Group, who not only possess an excellent reputation for service and aftermarket care, but as Sandvik Construction's dealer in Thailand are able to draw upon Sandvik's extensive minerals processing experience and know-how.

Having discussed their options with both the William Wong Group and Sandvik specialists, Chayuth and Bhisanu Busitarnuntakul realised that in order to maximise the materials within the Sila Sanon quarry a combination of stationary, as well as mobile crushing and screening equipment would be required. The following Sandvik equipment was chosen as the perfect fit for their requirements:

• 1 x CH440 stationary cone crusher
• 1 x QI340 tracked HS impact crusher with recirculating conveyor
• 1 x QI340 tracked impact crusher
• 1 x QE440 tracked scalping screen
• 1 x QA450 tracked four-way split triple deck screening system

This chosen crushing and screening operation is used to feed -500mm material that is produced by the stationary Sandvik cone crusher to the QI340 tracked impactors. These state of the art machines further process the material at 200 – 300 mtp producing three grades alternatively:

• 0-7mm to be used as the aggregates
• 7-23mm to be used as aggregates
• 50-100mm for industrial usage

The key to the productivity of the quarry is the Sandvik QI340: this purpose built tracked impact crusher has been designed to process aggregate and quarried materials on site wherever, and whenever, it is required. Possessing mobility, productivity, transportability, minimal environmental impact and user friendliness at its core, it has been designed to deliver crushing excellence wherever it is required. The essential reasons for the productivity the QI340 is that it possesses such key features as:

• Excellent reduction ratio across a broad product spectrum
• Variable speed primary pan feeder for controlled and continuous feed
• Material feed is integrated with engine loading for maximum control
• Independent grizzly and under pan feeder
• Optional double deck – double screen recirculation conveyor ( found on one of the QI340's)
• Global aftermarket support, with standard stock parts to ensure minimum loss of production
• Designed for optimum fuel economy and low operating costs.

The Sandvik range of tracked impact crushers have been designed to provide customers with extensive mobile crushing solution whatever the material application. All Sandvik models possess high reduction ratios giving customers the best possible product shape, high productivity, low wear, easy maintenance and a low cost per ton. They are available in heavy duty and compact formats, and possess options to suit virtually all customer requirements.

Although the QI340 tracked impactors are capable of producing an excellently shaped accurately sized product on their own, the Sandvik screening and scalping systems are able to further grade the limestone based on the specific requirements of the customer. This latter point is particularly pertinent as the limestone from the Silasanon quarry is used in a variety of applications ranging from ready mix concrete plants, road contracting, generic construction, as well as being supplied to the industrial / chemical manufacturing industries for use as quick lime.

Being able to offer their customers a flexible and highly productive service has been an essential component of the success of the Silasanon quarrying operation, and this is perfectly illustrated by the fact that one of their major customers is the Siam Cement Group (SCG) - the biggest ready mix supplier in Thailand.

Sila Sanon Quarry now produces more than 200,000 tons of various sized products each month, with approximately 80,000 tons of coming from the mobile plant alone. Due to the success of the new Sandvik mobile crushing and screening operation plans are now in place for over 50% of materials produced on a monthly basis to be derived from mobile crushing plant. This is due to the inherent flexibility of the mobile systems that are able to go exactly where they are required (the Silasanon quarry face is now 2km from its initial location in 1983), feed directly to transportation systems, and still deliver high quality products at high rates of production.

Operations at their Sila Sanon quarry have shown Chayuth and Bhisanu Busitarnuntakul that Sandvik mobile technology, combined with first class local representation through the William Wong Group, has enabled them to save on transport costs, process materials directly at the quarry face and at the same time use non-specialized transport equipment. The inherent flexibility of Sandvik mobile crushing and screening equipment has enabled all of these things to be achieved, whilst being able to deliver high quality limestone products at impressive rates of production that is able to satisfy customer demand.