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Earlier this year one of BardonAggregates newest sand and gravel

operations finally came on streamsome six months later than

originally planned.After 12 years in the

planning process, this final delay was not dueto any last-minute technical problems with theplant, instead it was brought about by last

years outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease,which effectively closed down of much of theBritish countryside.

Uttoxeter Quarry, operated by BardonAggregates, the aggregates and asphalt business

of Aggregate Industries UK who own the site,is located in the heart of rural England, closeto the Staffordshire/Derbyshire border.The

site is being developed on 100ha of greenfield

land in the Dove valley, approximately one milenorth-east of the town of Uttoxeter, adjacent

to the B5030 (Rocester road).The mainextraction area is located on some 60ha offlat agricultural land bordered by the river

Dove to the east and the river Tean to thesouth.

Geological investigations at the site have

identified potential reserves of approximately4.7 million tonnes of saleable sand and gravel.The deposit itself is fluvioglacial in origin with

a depth ranging between 1.5m and 8.5m.Compositionally it comprises 6% silt, 30% sand

and 64% gravel, the latter being predominantlyquartzitic in nature.The sand and gravel isunderlain by a layer of alluvium which overlies

the Mercia mudstone group.

QM Apr 2002 www.qmj.co.uk 11

New Plant in theDove ValleyBardon Aggregates Uttoxeter Quarry comes on stream

Part of the 200 tonnes/h processing plant at Uttoxeter Quarry


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Bardon Aggregates plan to work the depositin 12 phases over a period of 12 years, witheach 12-month phase yielding around 400,000

tonnes of material.The quarry has beenestablished primarily to supply concreteaggregates to outlets within the business in

the Midlands region, in particular sharp sandand 20mm +5mm aggregate to the Bardon

Concrete plants at Cheadle, Sandbach andStoke, and 8mm single-size gravel to a newconcrete block plant at Newbold.

Extraction and processingUttoxeter Quarry is a wet-dig operation withthe sand and gravel being raised by a

12 www.qmj.co.uk QM Apr 2002

Sennebogen 640R/KB dragline supplied by E.H.Hassell & Sons Ltd.This machine was selectedfor this particular application because of its

ability to extract the material at a rate of upto 250 tonnes/h throughout the full depth ofthe deposit.The as-raised material is deposited

in a stockpile adjacent to the dig where it isleft to dry out for a period of up to two

weeks.A Cat 966F wheel loader is used for the

subsequent load-and-haul journey from the

stockpile to the nearby field feed hopper.This20-tonne capacity hopper discharges on to afully refurbished second-hand field conveyor

system, supplied by BB Conveyors Ltd,

A Sennebogen 640R/KB

dragline extracts the sand and

gravel at a rate of 250

tonnes/h

The Finlay 206 log-washer


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which delivers the as-raised material to the

200 tonnes/h processing plant where it iswashed, screened, crushed and sized into three

final products.On arrival at the plant the material is

discharged from the field conveyor into a 20-

tonne capacity Finlay plant feed hopperequipped with a sloping reject grid with barsset at a spacing of 150mm.A reversible belt

feeder mounted beneath the hopper allowsthe sand and gravel to be either sent on forfurther processing or fed to an adjacent as-

raised stockpile which provides asupplementary raw material supply in the

event of serious flooding in the working area.From the plant feed hopper, a 27m long

inclined static conveyor, fitted with a 750mm

wide belt and equipped with a Beckford beltweigher at the tail end, delivers the material tothe first screen.This comprises a 20ft x 5ft

twin-deck Finlay washing screen fitted withpolyurethane panels and rubber-lined

chutework.The screens top deck removes any+75mm material, which is fed to an adjacentoversize stockpile by means of a short side

conveyor, while 3.5mm material is washedthrough the lower deck and fed by a flumearrangement to a variable-speed

electric/hydraulic Finlay 200E Hydrasander fordewatering.The 3.5mm sharp sand discharged

from the Hydrasander is delivered to stockpileby a 24m long x 750mm wide Finlay 830mobile stockpile conveyor with a powered hub

for 120 radial movement.The middle product from the first screen is

discharged directly into a Finlay 206 log-washer which is powered by a 45kW electricmotor and offers an adjustable angle of slopefrom 4 to 10.Any sand liberated by the log-

washer is once again flumed to the

Hydrasander, while the coarser fraction isdischarged directly on to a 17m long transfer

conveyor for delivery to the second screen.This conveyor, like all others at the site, isfitted with a trip-wire safety system supplied

by Davis Derby Ltd.The second screen comprises a 20ft x 5ft

twin-deck Finlay rinsing screen, the first 4ft of

which is fitted with spray bars while the

The Finlay 200E Hydrasander

View of the first screen house,

log-washer and transfer

conveyor to the second screen

house, with the Hydrasander

bottom right of the picture


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remainder of the unit is dry. Once again, anyresidual sand liberated by the rinsing action is

flumed away to the Hydrasander.TheUttoxeter plant has a total water requirement(Hydrasander, spray bars etc) of 1,200 gal/min,

which is met entirely by the recirculation of

process water through two 100m x 90mlagoons.

The quarrys remaining final products(20mm +5mm and 8mm single size) are sized

on this screen and delivered to stockpiles by a

Finlay 830 mobile/radial stockpiler and a 24mlong static conveyor respectively. Meanwhile,

the 75mm +20mm oversize from the topdeck of the second screen is fed on to a 24mlong x 750mm wide chevron conveyor for

delivery to a 20-tonne crusher surge hopper.ALocker vibratory feeder mounted beneath thehopper choke feeds a Nordberg HP200 cone

crusher, which in turn feeds 20mm +5mm

crushed material back on to the transferconveyor to the second screen, in a closed-circuit arrangement, via a Finlay 430 mobileconveyor. Crusher settings are monitored and

controlled by means of a Nordberg A2020control unit located in the containerizedswitchgear/plant control room which

overlooks the plant. Likewise, the crusherhopper level and crusher bowl level are

monitored by a pair of MultiRanger Plusultrasonic continuous level-measurementsystems from Milltronics.

All three final products are rehandled and

loaded out by a Cat 966F wheel loader.Thesite employs a full-time staff of eight and

operates from 7.00am to 6.00pm Monday toFriday and from 7.00am to 1.00pm on

Saturdays.

Site restorationSupported by a comprehensive environmental

statement, Bardon Aggregates planningapplication includes provision for theprogressive restoration of the entire

landholding. On cessation of extraction inaround 12 years time, the processing plant

and its ancillary buildings will be dismantledand the area restored.As the processing plantlies outside the flood plain, it is proposed that

the majority of this land will be returned to

agriculture. However, at the request of the

14 www.qmj.co.uk QM Apr 2002

The dry section of the

20ft x 5ft Finlay rinsing screen

View of the crushing house

showing the closed-circuit feed

arrangement


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will be diverted during the mineral extraction

operations will be reinstated to complementthe restoration.

As well as the conservation areasmentioned earlier, two other specific areas fornature conservation will also be created, the

first in the south-east corner of the smallerlake, and the second, larger (3ha) area alongthe eastern boundary and south-eastern part

of the larger lake. S

AcknowledgementThe editor wishes to thank AggregateIndustries UK, part of Aggregate Industries plc,

for permission to visit Uttoxeter Quarry and,in particular, Keith Gray, quarry manager, andMichael Ward, sales manager with Finlay

Hydrascreens (Omagh) Ltd, for their help inpreparing this article.

Environment Agency, the clean-water pond and

silt lagoon will be landscaped and restored asshallow-water features for nature

conservation.The majority of the main 60ha excavation

area will be turned into two deeper-water

lakes a 42ha eastern lake and a smaller 5hawestern lake.The lake margins will be formedusing the overburden and soils stripped from

the site and both lakes will be planted andmaintained in accordance with an approvedrestoration and aftercare scheme.

Peripheral restoration to 5ha of watermeadows that will link with undisturbed areas

of the flood plain towards the river Dove willbe carried out on the eastern boundary of thelarger lake.Approximately 5ha of native

woodland are also proposed in this area. Inaddition, a number of public footpaths which


Final products are rehandled

and loaded out by a Cat

966F wheel loader

Flow diagram of the

processing operations at

Uttoxeter Quarry

new plant in the dove valley_0

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