Tae-Hyung continues to increase production capacity of premium quality manufactured sand

Mr. Ho-Joong Yoon, President of Tae-Hyung Corporation Limited explains: “We started to produce manufactured sand in 1997. At that time, we were unable to get the desired result with the existing equipment, and therefore decided to invest in a Metso Barmac vertical shaft impact (VSI) crusher for the Gimcheon quarry. The market buzz at the time about the solution was very compelling.”

Significant improvements in quality and capacity

“The installation of our first Barmac crusher immediately cut the flakiness of the material by half, to a mere 20%. Soon after, we placed an order for two Nordberg HP300 and two HP400 cone crushers – and this we did because the market for manufactured sand started to increase when the use of river sand was banned and at the same time there was lots of construction activity going on. The new cone crushers enabled us to further reduce the flakiness—which is considered a weakness and impacts the workability of concrete—down to 10% and to increase overall production. Since then, we have relied on Metso technology when re-designing and equipping our quarries. We have purchased additional Metso equipment every year.”

Today, Tae-Hyung operates one quarry in Gimcheon, in the center of South Korea, and another one in Pocheon, 70km to north from Seoul. Both quarries work in two shifts. The quarries are located in strategic areas where lots of good quality sand is needed for construction. The majority of the produced sand is delivered to external companies, as well as some to Tae-Hyung’s own companies producing ready-mixed concrete.

The annual aggregates production at the Gimcheon quarry, which uses hard Andesite rock, is 1,500,000 m3. The quarry produces 2,000 m3 of sand per day, and the target is to increase production to 2,500 m3 per day. In Pocheon, annual production totals 5,000,000 m3 with daily production ranging from 12,000 to 13,000m3. Here, the feed consists of soft granite. After the installation of two new high-capacity Metso HP400 crushers, the quarry’s production capacity will increase to about 20,000 m3 per day.

Investments into state-of-the-art plants pay off

Tae-Hyung’s and Metso’s path started through HAEIN Corporation, which is Metso’s distributor in South Korea. Tae-Hyung relied on both parties, and Metso provided support for designing the first process. The results were excellent – good quality with cost-efficiency – and the co-operation has been smooth right from the start.

During the last ten years the market has changed radically: demand for sand has increased significantly, whereas aggregates demand has decreased. “With sand you make money. Today, the price of manufactured sand is approximately 10 euros per m3 ex quarry. Anyone can produce 25 mm aggregate, and the price for it is going down. However, starting up a manufactured sand plant needs big investments, so it’s not so easy for newcomers to enter the market,” Mr. Yoon explains.

Laws and regulations also play a role when designing the plants: the new labor laws limit the maximum weekly working hours to 52. This means that you need to compensate with efficient big capacity plants to produce more.

After the latest investment decisions to Metso technology, Tae-Hyung will operate a total of 5 Barmac impact crushers and 5 HP cone crushers in Gimcheon and Pocheon. Thanks to the investments, the quarries’ combined aggregate production capacity has risen by 10% since 2011, and the annual production is expected to exceed 7,000,000 m3 in 2019.

Mr. Yoon is confident of the company’s future: “Thanks to our state-of-the art processes and technology used, Tae-Hyung is today the number one company for manufactured sand in South Korea. We also operate in ready mixed concrete (remicon) and specialize in recycled asphalt-concrete (ascon). We have new technology for asphalt, and we aim to be number one also in raw materials for construction. An impressive 90% of our turnover comes from aggregates and recycled concrete. To grow profitably, we will continue investing in increasing our plants’ efficiency. Innovative solutions and refurbishing are also needed. For example, eliminating dust and noise is a critical issue. Automation is also a topic we need to study more.”