King of the Hill

The East Leake CEMEX quarry south of Nottingham is perched on top of a hill, but in a fairy isolated location, making it ideal for supplying local collect customers. The site provides 20 – 4 mm and 10 – 4 mm gravel products, two sand grades and two specialist mixed ballast products through its Pegson 900 cone crusher. The products are especially popular for ready mix, blacktop and pipe bedding applications.

The 16 hectare facility is already a paragon of environmental working practices, having achieved ISO 14001 accreditation. CEMEX has installed covered and rubber clad conveyors, and enclosed the plant to reduce noise. Dust suppression has been increased, and the site has even adopted different working hours to avoid surges in the National Grid power supply, earning a lower electricity tariff as result. The site now supplies on demand, rather than stockpiling, which has cut overheads and vehicle movements, and has even installed low power pumps, lights and heaters to greatly reduce the carbon footprint of the site.

The company’s green credentials have lead to some strict methods of working as assistant site manager Bill Newton explains. "Obviously the site is already governed by very stringent national methods of working, mineral and water extraction, lake water levels as well as the restoration of the site,” he says. “But being located on the top of a hill places additional demands on us because anything that leaks into the soil up here will ultimately end up in the water system at the foot of the hill. So we are ultra careful to avoid any spills and contamination."

To further protect against oil leaks from the company’s equipment fleet, CEMEX has turned to nearby Pirtek Nottingham. “To ensure that we run efficiently and without any contamination problems, we use Pirtek Nottingham to provide all our hydraulic services. They are very quick to respond and always come equipped with the parts to deal with any breakdown or pollution issue,” Bill Newton concludes. “They are very aware of our specific health and safety issues and very knowledgeable of safety procedures. Just watching their engineers proves their competence. If we had any reservations about using them, they simply wouldn't be on site.”