Every once in a while I meet ordinary people. People that I haven’t met before. People who wonder what I’m doing. People asking, “Hump? Is there anything interesting about that?”

Often I reply, “Washing crushed stone.” Partly because I’m fascinated by the technology and the possibilities it provides, and partly because I say “Washing crushed stone.” Because who on earth washes crushed stone?

Make money at both ends with quarry washing systems

In most cases, companies spend money on obtaining goods, and then sell them again for a profit. This also applies to those engaged in mining: blasting mountains, crushing down (expense), selling as crushed stone, sand, shingle, gravel (income).

Expenses, income. – Expense, income. And that’s how things go today.

What if earnings could rather look like this:
Income, expenses, income. – Income, expense, income.

With quarry washing systems, it can. You can put on an extra link with income.

First, you charge for contractors to deposit building raw materials with you. After a few rounds in the washing plant, you can sell it again.

I’ve had people look at me wide-eyed and say, “Seriously? They charge twice for the same material?”

Velde Pukk has Europe’s largest recycling plant for building raw materials. For Norway, they have been pioneers in recycling.

Get more out of your resources

When you’ve spent a bunch of money blasting the mountain, then transporting it from the quarry and crushing it down into smaller fractions, then of course you want to get the most out of it.

Read also: How big is the actual potential of quarry recycling stations?

Then it is frustrating when large values turn into dust. 0-drugs have been a problem all these years. With washing systems, you can use the fine material, and get a saleable product out of what was previously lying around.

Utilise surplus pulp

If you’ve been producing for years in the same place without a washing plant, you most likely have tons upon tons of pulp lying without being used and labeled as worthless. The truth is that these mounds are full of valuable factions.

With washing, you can most likely refine the piles, and end up with concrete aggregates and asphalt aggregates.

Quarry washing systems for concrete and asphalt
Some of our customers have washed out 0-2mm and 4-6mm fractions from a huge surplus stock. Previously, it was considered useless surplus mass.

Use less diesel

Reducing greenhouse gases is important, especially when it goes hand in hand with good economics.

Building blocks are transported an average of 18.6 km from quarry to construction site, according to government surveys. If a tipper truck runs fully loaded both ways at all times, it can drive fully loaded with valuable loads for about 88 percent of the working day. With quarry washing systems, the efficiency of each tipper truck goes up and the price per produced tonne goes down.

Per tipper truck it will be:

  • 37 percent less CO2 emissions
  • 12 937 litres of diesel per year
  • NOK 647,000 less expenses per year
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These are figures for only one tipper truck – if it drives with a full load both ways.

It may not be realistic that a tipper truck is always fully loaded, every single day during a working year, but this calculation shows the potential. But if a tipper truck only drives fully loaded both ways every other day, it still becomes a hefty calculation.

With washing systems in quarries, a truck can drive with loads to and from the quarry
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Recycle material

Not everyone agrees with the climate focus. While many believe climate is extremely important, others believe that it is a hysteria beyond everything. It’s okay to think the environmental focus is exaggerated, but it’s hard to argue with recycling.

Why should we deposit valuable resources, when we can reuse them?

In material from excavated plots, crushed asphalt, concrete debris and tunnel mass, there are building raw materials that we can use. Recycling building raw materials reduces the need to open new outlets and landfills. Reusing masses is just fine.

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Download free spreadsheets:
To help you get more money for new equipment, we’ve created a spreadsheet. You can use it to document expenses and justify why it is profitable to invest in new equipment. Eg. washing systems in quarries.