£1m crusher investment at Craig yr Hesg quarry

A new secondary crusher has been installed at Craig yr Hesg quarry costing nearly £1 million. 

It took months of planning and three weeks to install the Metso GP300S cone crusher. 

“We have a planning application in to extend the quarry, so this investment is important,” said quarry manager Andrew Mantle. 

“Our very abrasive and hardwearing stone is used on the top surface of roads and is in huge demand all over the country. It has a very high polished stone value, which is a measure of skid resistance. 

“Once up and running, the crusher will increase production from 220 tonnes an hour to 270, improving throughput and efficiency.” 

Andrew’s team won praise for their ingenuity in the run-up to the new installation. 

“We were concerned over the loss of a hammer pin from the excavator somewhere in our blast pile, which could potentially have caused £50,000 damage to our primary crusher,” said Andrew. 

“But production supervisors Peter Faull and Rob English suggested and found a £25 metal detector online which we used to locate the hammer pin.”