TEB 224 Construction Materials and Equipment Dr.S.

Waweru

2.1 Introduction to Quarries

Session 2.1: Introduction
This Session gives an introduction to different types of quarrying and processes
involved. The first activity is a video which describes a large granite quarry in the UK
and briefly introduces the various processes involved. A more detailed description is
then given of the different types of operation, focussing on hard rock aggregates
quarries, and with a definition of what actually makes an aggregate material.

Activity 2.1.1 Seeing inside a quarry

Lafarge-Tarmac's Mountsorrel Quarry - the largest Granite quarry in Europe.

Activity 2.1.2 The elements of quarrying

What is a quarry?
Quarries are places where materials are extracted from the surface of the earth. They
usually refer to operations where the material is to be used in construction, whereas
open-pit mining often refers to metal mines and opencast mining usually refers to coal.
Sub-surface mines consist of underground tunnels or shafts and most of these relate to
metals or coal, although construction materials are occasionally extracted from
underground, and may sometimes be referred to as underground quarries (just to
confuse the issue).

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Some quarries produce rock which is extracted or cut into large blocks (e.g. Portland
limestone) or to be cut into slices to form “cladding” on the front of buildings (e.g. granite
or marble). In these quarries there is unlikely to be a blasting, and certainly no crushing
and screening, so these operations have not been considered in the EE-Quarry project.

The processes used in quarrying

The processes used to recover the material will depend on the characteristics of the
deposit. Very often, it will be covered with soils and other material known as
overburden, which is not suitable for use as aggregate. This has to be removed and
stored for later use in the restoration process once the extraction has finished.

Hard rock deposits will usually have to be broken out of the ground using explosives,
although some weaker rocks can be excavated directly into dump trucks or broken
using a “ripper” attachment on an excavator or on the back of a dozer. The objective is
to fragment the rock to a size suitable for loading and transporting to the plant for further
processing, and to do it in a way which is safe and minimises environmental impacts.

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Once the material has been removed from the ground, it has to be transported to the
processing plant via a conveyor belt or vehicle. The increased usage of modular,
mobile processing equipment has meant that some or all of the required processing and
loading of vehicles for delivery may now take place within the extraction area itself. This
equipment is able to follow the extraction area as it develops within a quarry, but can
also be moved from quarry to quarry fairly easily if required. However, a lot of quarries,
particularly the larger ones, will have static fixed plant away from the extraction area,
where the raw feed material is processed to produce the products required for the
market.

It is a combination of the nature of the raw material and the requirements of the market
that determines the type of processing that is required. The main elements of
aggregate processing are breaking the rock into smaller sizes or fractions (if that is
required), and then separating the rock fragments into the different size particles
required by the customer. These sizes can range from metres, e.g. large blocks for

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coastal defences, which would not go through the crushing process, to fractions of a
millimetre where the particles may have gone through a multi-stage crushing process to
produce the right size (and shape) of particle. Generally, particles above 4 mm are
referred to as gravels, and particles between 4 mm and 0.075 mm are referred to as
sand. The silts and clays below this size are usually considered to be waste products
with little commercial value.

Of course the nature of the particles of a similar size can vary in terms of their relative
shape and dimensions, and this may affect their suitability for different end uses. Sand-
sized particles can either be obtained by separating that fraction from a natural sand
and gravel deposit, or it can be manufactured by crushing larger particles down to the
appropriate size. The shape of the rock particles will be partly determined by the
properties of that particular rock type, but also by the type of crushing used which can
be based on compression forces or impact forces.

The separation of the gravel fractions usually takes place using a series of screens
(large sieves) on which particles either pass through or are retained. The different
fractions can then be sold directly or blended to obtain a specific particle size
distribution (see Activity 2.1.3). The screening often takes place dry, but water can be
used to clean the aggregate on the screens if required.

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Where water is almost always required is in the production of sand, where a wide
variety of processes and equipment use water to separate the sand fraction from the
finer silt and clay particles.

Activity 2.1.3 What are aggregates?

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By far the highest volume of building material extracted is known as aggregate, and the
definition of rock particles as aggregates is based on their purpose or function, rather
than the rock’s classification by type, age or origin. Put simply, they are granular
materials which form part or the whole of a building or engineering structure. As we
saw in Session 1.2, this can be as an unbound material, or it can be mixed with other
materials known as binders, which then forms concrete or asphalt.

A wide variety of rock types are suitable for use as aggregates, including hard rocks of
metamorphic, igneous and sedimentary origin which need to be blasted and crushed to
the appropriate sizes or fractions. Quarries producing other types of material such as
cement, chalk or gypsum (some of which have uses outside construction) may also
require fragmentation of the rock, and so these are all relevant to the EE-Quarry project.

Natural sand and gravel deposits, which often occur as unconsolidated or loose material
associated with ancient or recent river systems, can also be a good source of aggregate
material. Some countries in Europe recover deposits from offshore coastal waters
using dredgers, but most deposits are operated on land. They usually don’t require any
blasting, and the amount of crushing required is often small, although that will depend
on the size of the particles in the deposit, and the size required by the local market.
Although deposit assessment was part of the EE-Quarry project, and is extremely
important in optimising product in sand and gravel operations, it was not possible to
include them in the overall assessment of energy efficiency.

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Not all rocks are suitable for use as aggregates, as they must possess certain physical
and chemical properties. For example, the Pennant sandstone in South Wales can
make an excellent top surface material for roads as it has a high polished stone value
which resists wear. But many sandstones are totally unsuitable for use as aggregate,
because they are too soft and readily break down.

Over the last 20 years, recycled (previously used) and secondary aggregates (by-
products of other mineral or industrial processes) have become increasingly important
as a replacement for primary aggregates which is material extracted for use as
aggregate for the first time. In 2012, nearly 10% of European aggregates were provided
by recycled or secondary materials, and in the UK this reached 29%.

Different rock types will produce aggregates with different properties, which will be
suitable for a range of different applications. But very often a range (or mixture) of sizes
are also required, which is why crushing and screening are so important in the
aggregates industry.