CDE plant doubles production for Campbell Contracts

Northern Ireland-based Campbell Contracts double wet processing ability with new CDE wash plant

CAMPBELL Contracts Ltd, a family-owned and managed business headquartered in Tempo, a small village on the outskirts of Enniskillen in Co. Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, say they have doubled their materials processing ability since commissioning a new CDE wet processing plant.

Operating from their Letterbailey Quarry, Campbell Contracts have been extracting sand and gravel for more than three decades. In recent years they commenced controlled blasting activities and now count sand, gravel, crushed rock, rock fill and screened topsoil among their growing product range.

In 2019, the Campbell family partnered with wet processing equipment manufacturers CDE, to help them to grow the business and diversify their portfolio of high-quality quarried aggregates.

For decades Campbell Contracts had utilized a traditional barrel washer, as company director Brendan Campbell explained: ‘It was suitable for our business needs at the time it was installed, and it has served us well over its 30 years of service. Increasingly, though, we need to ensure we can recycle and reclaim as much primary aggregate as possible during the quarrying process, and the barrel washer had its limitations.’

One of the earliest processes for washing aggregates, the Campbell Contracts barrel washer was efficient when processing cleaner virgin material, but its limitations were evident in its inability to wash heavier, clay-bound materials, rendering them as waste.

‘This material was backfilled into the pits and buried,’ said Mr Campbell. ‘Similarly, the unwashed primary scalpings we generated were inevitably stockpiled as we didn’t have the technology to efficiently process the material.’

David Kinloch, regional manager for CDE in the UK and Ireland, said: ‘CDE engineers state-of-the-art wet processing technologies that offers quarry operators solutions to enhance the quality of products they currently produce while simultaneously supporting them to add huge commercial value to their enterprises by ensuring value is extracted from all available material, including those which are too often perceived as quarry waste by-products.’

CDE completed tests at Creagh Concrete on material extracted from Letterbailey Quarry. Material was analysed and the results used to develop a bespoke wet processing system that would respond to the needs of Campbell Contracts and would support the family business to stimulate growth.

‘This was an important consideration for us,’ said Mr Campbell. ‘CDE understood our operation and what we wanted to achieve with a new wet processing plant. It’s very much a journey and a partnership with CDE that extends beyond the commissioning phase with first-class proactive and preventative measures to ensure the plant is operating at maximum efficiency.’

Campbell Contracts’ new 120 tonnes/h CDE wet processing plant includes an L35 feed hopper, M2500 modular washing plant incorporating a twin-deck P2-75 Infinity screen and EvoWash system, and an AggMax 83 with integrated RotoMax RX80 log-washer and H2-60 Infinity screen.

The fully integrated, modular plant combines feeding, screening, washing and stockpiling on to one compact and mobile chassis.

With the support of their new CDE plant, Campbell Contracts are now successfully processing three materials they previously categorized as waste from their quarrying operations: clay-bound sand and gravel, primary scalpings and crushed rock fines.

According to Mr Campbell, it has had a transformative impact on the business. ‘We’re recovering high-quality materials and value that we had effectively written off as waste. In retrospect, we should have partnered with CDE to commission the plant sooner,’ he remarked.

Virgin sand and gravel feed material is being processed at a rate of 120 tonnes/h producing 0–3mm and 0–6mm sand; 6–12mm, 12–25mm and 25–50mm aggregate; and +50mm oversize aggregate for a wide range of applications in the construction industry.

David Kinloch added: ‘Campbell Contracts are now processing three grades of material that they historically stockpiled or backfilled. CDE wet processing technology has demonstrated that all quarry by-products have the potential to be processed into marketable products that add significant value to a business.’