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CASE STUDY DUNLOP SUPERFORT® HANSON WHATLEY QUARRY

Whatley has been operating since the 1960s and is the largest of Hanson UK’s quarries. It is situated between the villages of Mells and Chantry in the Mendip Hills Natural Character Area around four miles west of Frome. It employs over 60 people directly, along with a wide range of support staff and contractors. The quarry supplies crushed limestone aggregate to local markets by road, and to depots in London and South East England via a dedicated rail link. It operates 24 hours a day and produces between 4 to 5 million tonnes of aggregate a year. There are further on-site plants producing asphalt and ready-mixed concrete. Limestone reserves are in the order of 100 million tonnes. The site extends to 173 hectares, of which 120 hectares comprises of the limestone extraction site.

Whatley Quarry approached Vulcanising South West Ltd on the 15th May 2019 with the view to carrying out a belt calculation on CV07 conveyor. The maximum expected life of the belt 1000/4 6+2 (of unspecified origin) was on average 6—12 months with a number of repairs required during this period especially the splice. Each repair carrying extra cost and downtime.

C7 conveyor at Whatley Quarry is a horizontal conveyor carrying crushed limestone aggregate at a size of 63mm – 250mm. The conveyor is a key asset in the process as without this conveyor in operation all primary and secondary crushing operation is halted.

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