Mason Brothers Keep on Crushing with Sandvik

10 September, 2018

First published in the September 2018 issue of Quarry Management

Pembrokeshire-based Mason Brothers Quarry Products have a longstanding relationship with Sandvik that dates back to the 1990s. Today the company produces in excess of 100,000 tonnes per annum of high-quality aggregates from Rhyndaston Quarry, near Haverfordwest, where a mobile crushing, screening and scalping train from Sandvik plays a key role in ensuring that customers get the materials they need.

Mason Brothers Quarry Products is a family-run business that, for more than 25 years, has been carving out a niche supplying sand and aggregates throughout Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire, and further afield. ‘We run six tipper trucks out of the quarry and now produce more than 100,000 tonnes of mixed aggregates,’ said managing director Alun Mason.

The products produced at the quarry range from Type 1 sub-base to ornamental stone and building stone. The company also supplies a range of other products, including volumetric concrete, concrete blocks, portable gabion baskets, and drainage pipe, and is able to deliver both loose or bagged materials according to customer requirements. As well as their flagship operation at Rhyndaston Quarry, Mason Brothers also work out of other quarries, including a new shale quarry, which is also located near Haverfordwest.

‘Most of our material is produced at Rhyndaston Quarry. It’s a metamorphosed granite that breaks reasonably easily but is quite abrasive, which makes it hard wearing on any equipment we use,’ explained Mr Mason. ‘This means we try to use equipment that is going to do what we want and give us the tonnages we require, but at the same time keep our costs to a minimum.’

A key part of the production process at Rhyndaston Quarry is Mason Brothers’ crushing, screening and scalping train, supplied by Sandvik Mobiles. This consists of a QA451 triple-deck Doublescreen, a QH331 cone crusher with hanging screen, and, currently, a QE341 scalper with finger deck.

Explaining the highly productive and efficient nature of this set-up, Mr Mason said: ‘We primary crush and scalp at the face to produce a 1–4in (25–100mm) cone feed which is stockpiled to the rear of the QH331 crusher. With an excavator loading the cone for secondary crushing, this set-up allows us to run the entire quarry with just two men.

Launched at Hillhead 2016, the QH331 cone crusher with hanging screen is one of Sandvik’s latest developments whose features have proved to be of particular benefit to Mason Brothers.

‘Obviously, the hanging screen has been a big improvement for us,’ said Mr Mason. ‘It’s efficient; we don’t re-circulate a lot with it as we tend to try and use all the products the machine produces. Another good thing is that we haven’t got to leave crusher backing to ‘cure’. We change between ‘matt’ and ‘concave’ (on the cone) quite regularly, which allows us to get on with our day’s work.’

The QH331 draws heavily on Sandvik’s expertise in cone crusher technology, which, as Mr Mason explained, has been put to good effect: ‘We try to keep the shape (of the end product) which is something the cone has enabled us to do. We only primary and secondary crush, we don’t tertiary crush at all, so we have to get the shape right in two stages.’

Mason Brothers have been using mobile crushing and screening equipment from the Sandvik range for almost as long as they have been producing aggregates. ‘We have a long relationship going right back to the Extec days (Extec were acquired by Sandvik in 2007). They’ve always pulled us out and kept us going,’ said Mr Mason.

‘We may be a long way from Sandvik, but they do come out as quickly as possible if our equipment requires a service or parts, or in the rare event of a breakdown. They also provide good advice over the telephone, so we can try a lot of things ourselves without them needing to send a service engineer. I’d have no problem recommending Sandvik to anybody. We’ve got a good relationship with them and they’ve looked after us over the years.’