One in a million

A long-reach excavator, supplied and operated by Land & Water, has quarried 1 million tonnes of sand and gravel for Shepperton Aggregates, a joint venture between Brett Aggregates and Tarmac.

The 88-tonne machine supplied to the quarry is fitted with a Prolec Digmaster system and has been excavating to a maximum depth of 12m below water level. Dave Steward, Brett Aggregate’s operations manager, commented: ‘Over the last three and a half years production has never been held up by Land & Water, they have always kept a permanent stockpile ahead of our loading shovel. The long-reach excavator is able to excavate far more accurately than a dragline, which has allowed us to excavate pockets of deeper material. This has given us more material than expected and more space for the inert landfill restoration.’