Larger Than Life

With the exception of its terriers, they say that everything in Yorkshire is bigger than the rest of the UK. And that is certainly true of Tarmac's Swinden quarry near Grassington, Yorkshire.

Located within the boundaries of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, Swinden was transformed in 2000/1 by a £15m investment, which saw a total transformation of the site. The crushing plant and offices were moved from the entrance to within the confines of the quarry; the entrance roads were surfaced; new dust suppression measures were implemented; and the entire working layout of the quarry rethought. The end result is a landscaped and screened site that is virtually invisible to the outside world. In 2008 the quarry was further transformed with the introduction of a single CAT 5130B face shovel, a 220 tonne Metso LT160 track-mounted mobile crusher, and one of the longest mineral conveyors in the country. Together, these replace the fleet of rigid dumptrucks previously charged with hauling limestone from the quarry face that extend to a depth of 40 metres. Obviously the adoption of such large plant effectively means all forms of extraction are in one basket, so it is vital that all the plant is operational, all the time.

"We are processing upwards of 80,000 tonnes from the weekly blast. Every piece of equipment is vital to the process and we can't afford to have unscheduled downtime,” says site manager Brian Lockey. "To ensure everything works smoothly we have an extensive preventative maintenance programme and daily inspections, which soon highlight any prospective problems. But we also look at how we can make the equipment operate more effectively. That's where Pirtek Bradford fits into our plans so effectively.”Lockey says that Pirtek Bradford has played a key role across the entire Swinden equipment fleet. “They don't just come out for the usual hose and valve repairs. They completely re-piped the Metso crusher's pedestal hammer and moved the control valves on the crusher body so they could be easily accessed,” he continues.

“They have been out to the Atlas Copco drill rig and replaced hydraulic return lines and they have repaired the loading shovels and supplied hoses for a small swager.” Having experienced the benefits of Pirtek’s service on a callout basis, Tarmac’s Swinden operations has formalised the arrangement even further. “Pirtek Bradford’s MSST Jason Crabtree suggested that it would be more cost effective to make-up and store certain assemblies on site to avoid some of the callouts and help reduce travelling time,” Brian Lockey concludes. “This has worked beautifully and is just another instance of how Pirtek have helped our working practises."