CRUSHING
MODERN PLANT BOOSTS
OUTPUT FOR RURAL FAMILY BUSINESS A second generation aggregate producer is set to double its production capacity with the opening of a $15 million advanced fixed crushing and screening plant in Victoria’s Benalla region. Myles Hume reports.
L
ima South Quarry is a second generation Victorian business, located 200km northeast of Melbourne. Its success rests largely on the extraction, crushing and screening of its in-demand hornfels blue metal aggregates, and the supply of railway ballast in the region. The quarry first commenced commercial operation in 1998 under the ownership of Geoff and Coral Day. Their son Ashley purchased it from them in 2008 and has since overseen a significant transformation of the operation, including two extensions, taking the total extractive area to 12ha today. Under his direction, Ashley Day has also expanded the Lima South workforce from a few men to 64 employees, seeing the operation’s annual output increase by 2500 per cent in the past eight years. A third extension application is awaiting imminent approval that would double the quarry’s footprint and extend its life for another century, based on forecasted sales. Lima South Quarry boasts its own 10-truck transport fleet that is supplemented by about 20 sub-contract drivers who transport Lima South rock as far afield as Melbourne (200km), Mildura (540km), and Albury (150km). In keeping with the quarry’s aim to remain self-sufficient and efficient, Day
has also established a NATA-accredited laboratory to test grade specifications on-site, eliminating delays associated with external testing services. According to the company’s sales and account manager Brendan Tipple, Lima South’s flagship product is its highly sought after hornfels blue metal aggregates, which are predominantly used for asphalt, spray sealing, railway ballast and now concrete applications. The aggregate is said to have superior properties, including a polished stone value of 60-61 for higher skid resistance, and a Los Angeles abrasion value of eight to 10. The product is only one per cent absorbent, soaking up less bitumen, binders and cement than basalt or other aggregates.
PRE-CAST PRODUCTS In addition to its annual spray sealing contracts, Lima South’s extensive list of projects include the supply of more than 200,000 tonnes of 63mm railway ballast for the Sydney to Melbourne Ballast Rehabilitation Program, as well as the recent provision of specialty leachate aggregates for construction of a new landfill cell for the local authority Benalla Rural City. Most notably, however, Tipple said the Quarry September 2019 37
