In November 2014, Moreenijaloste’s LT330D had already put in 250 hours of work.
The Lokotrack, which uses a cone crusher and a full 3-deck screen, was used as the crusher for a 40,000-tonne contract project carried out on behalf of Etelä-Suomen Kiviaineskauppa in the Pennala logistics area in Orimattila, Finland.
“Although we are just getting to grips with the features of the new Lokotrack, we were pleased to beat our own record in manufacturing fine gravel. A seven-hour workday produced 1860 tonnes of 0–6 mm and 6–16 mm end products,” says Hämeen Moreenijaloste’s Site Manager Jarkko Nieminen.
“Commissioning of the equipment has proceeded better than we expected, without any unexpected interruptions. In manufacturing fine gravel we have discovered that using the LT330D creates more gravel and less fines from the same volume of fed material,” he adds.
Higher volume, better quality
Lauri Mertsalmi, Hämeen Moreenijaloste’s Managing Director, is also pleased with the performance of Metso’s new product which replaced the LT300GPB model used previously by the company.
“We are obviously on the right track; we are able to produce a larger volume of material with the same number of units – at least that’s what it looks like at the moment. The savings in fuel consumption and equipment transfers will also increase our competitiveness,” Mertsalmi says.
“As I see it, the longer stroke of the LT330D’s GP330 cone crusher will also help us achieve a higher quality end product.”
The piles of aggregate in the Orimattila project’s logistics area are being completed in two shifts. Oversized rocks must first be broken up using a hydraulic hammer, after which they are crushed in two stages. In addition to fine gravel, the end products include the 0–16 mm and 16–31 mm grades. When using both diesel and electricity, the fuel consumption has settled at approximately 60 liters. The GP330 cone crusher is set at 27 mm.
For transporting the equipment only the side conveyors need to be detached as the screen lowers hydraulically into transport mode.
“We dismantle and lift the side conveyors using an excavator. The first transport took quite a lot of time but we believe that, in the future, it will only take about 30 minutes to set up the equipment,” says Crusher Operator Joni Kangas. “Thanks to the excellent height of the discharge conveyor, the wheel loader operator isn’t tied to moving the end-product piles the entire time.”
Hämeen Moreenijaloste’s seven employees work in southern and central Finland. Last year, they crushed some 650,000 tonnes of aggregates.