International Success For Finedoor
Quarry plant specialist secures another contract in the United Arab Emirates
Morley-based quarry plant specialists Finedoor have firmly established their international credentials by securing the supply of a further five screening units to a leading Middle East quarrying company. Stevin Rock LLC, who operate in Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates, recently confirmed the order for the screens, which are destined for installation in the third crushing plant at their key quarry operation at Al Ghail.
Having commenced operations at Al Ghail in May 2002, the site is a relatively recent addition to Stevin Rock, who have operated in the UAE for more than 25 years. The first plant to be installed at the site comprised reconditioned equipment relocated from the company’s original quarry at Khor Khwair together with three new screens sourced from Finedoor. In addition, Finedoor were heavily involved in the design stage, providing detailed process analysis, product-flow calculations and structural and foundation drawings, not only for their own equipment, but also for other components including the primary dump hopper. Also, through a local contractor, Finedoor supplied a significant proportion of the conveyor equipment including motors, drums, idlers and gearboxes.
The deposit at Al Ghail is a hard dolomitic limestone that has been rapidly accepted into the technically demanding market of Dubai, leading to Stevin Rock’s decision to install a second plant at the site. For this project, Finedoor worked closely with the quarry’s in-house team to formulate a design that would meet both technical and financial expectations.
‘We selected Finedoor because they have an established reputation here in the Middle East for providing a high-quality product’, said Stevin Rock’s general manager, Jim Henderson. ‘Delivery schedules, service back-up and parts availability were also critical considerations in the decision-making process’, he added. ‘Finedoor were able to meet our needs in these respects and we also appreciated their technical input at the project design stage.’
Despite recent destabilizing events in neighbouring Iraq, the UAE market, and in particular Dubai, is undergoing a construction boom, with several of the world’s largest and most prestigious projects currently being undertaken. These include the Palm Islands, the Burj Dubai (planned to be the tallest building in the world) and the recently tendered World Islands, which require over 30 million tonnes of armour-stone alone. Recognizing this sharp increase in demand, Stevin Rock placed the orders for a third plant at Al Ghail, replicating the design of the second, even while its construction continued apace.
‘The critical issue with the third plant was getting it into operation as quickly as possible’ explained deputy general manager Andy Talling. ‘We were confident in the design and therefore took the decision to duplicate the second plant to eliminate the time associated with the procurement stage’. The third plant came into operation in March 2004.
Each plant has a throughput capacity of 500 tonnes/h, giving the site an annual output of 7.5 million tonnes, with the product split aimed primarily at the concrete market. The plants are laid out conventionally, with Nordberg C-series primary jaw crushers, Hazemag secondary impactors and Auspactor vertical-shaft impactors in a tertiary/ shaping role. For the second and third plants Finedoor supplied all five new screens for each line — a 4.2m x 1.8m heavy-duty grizzly; a 6.0m x 1.8m scalping screen; a 7.0m x 2.0m selector screen; and two 7.0m x 2.4m product screens.
With 24h operations and summertime midday temperatures in the mid-forties Celsius, all components have to be robustly manufactured and well maintain-ed, which Stevin Rock achieve through their in-house departments. Despite having developed their in-house capabilities to such an extent that they can now design and build their own crushing and screening plants, Stevin Rock say they still look to suppliers such as Finedoor to supply the critical components. And as the Middle East market continues to expand, both Stevin Rock and Finedoor are looking forward to further successful ventures together.
