Lima South Quarry – Small Business is “Big Business”

BRENDAN TIPPLE, Sales and Account Manager for Lima South Quarry, reports on the growth of the quarry and its support to the local community.

IDEALLY located between Mansfield and Benalla, Lima South Quarry is a family owned and operated business employing a flexible team of local people to produce and deliver high quality rock products to its customers. It may be classified as a small to medium business however everything about Lima South Quarry is big, from the owner operator Ashley Day who stands at 6’5” or 195.58cm to the machinery used to process the construction material products for sale.

With Caterpillar loaders and excavators, modern Pegson crushing and screening plant, Volvo dump trucks and Mack tip trucks, Lima South Quarry now runs a large amount of plant and equipment and a fleet of vehicles.

Lima South Quarry began on the family dairy farm in 1970, when Ashley’s father Geoff and mother Coral commenced a surface extraction operation, and then in 1997 they gained permission to expand the operation into a full scale commercial quarry.

Ashley and his brother Trenton both worked in the family business; Trenton branched out into his own Farm Services and Earthmoving operation while Ashley bought the quarry business in 2008 allowing Geoff to retire.

Ashley then set a course to broaden the range of products offered, beginning by replacing the historical crushing and screening fixed plant with modern mobile crushing and screening equipment, this enables the business to consistently produce a broad range of high quality crushed rock and aggregate products for our customers.

OUR CUSTOMERS

Lima South Quarry products are highly sought aft er in the district due to their superior durability and workability. Customers such as pine plantation owners depend on roads made from our products to gain and maintain access to their pine plantations under extreme load conditions such as fully loaded logging trucks.

Vic Roads, local municipalities and state government bodies also depend on our products to maintain their network of roads and access tracks. While road construction companies engaged under contract by local councils or property developers utilise our products extensively in the construction of new roads.

Farmers are a very important part of our business; many farmers in the district use our products for access tracks, driveways, around stock troughs and for erosion control in gullies and washouts.

CRUSHING & SCREENING

Purchasing mobile plant allowed Ashley to expand the business into mobile crushing and screening, creating more local jobs by carrying out work for other quarry owners both government and private.

We now provide mobile crushing and screening services for organisations in New South Wales and Victoria. Of special interest was our work assisting one of the major subcontractors on the Peninsula Link freeway project where we crushed and screened recycled asphalt for use on this major infrastructure project.

In New South Wales products produced by our mobile crushing and screening teams were used on the Holbrook bypass project, another substantial infrastructure project supplied by Lima South Quarry and other members of the CMPA.

Lima South Quarry now employs a flexible team of local people from within the Mansfield, Murrindindi and Benalla Shire’s providing important local jobs for local families who are then able to support local businesses.

It’s quite a journey from the small surface extraction operation in 1970 to where we are today, with the quarry now supplying a broad range of products to private, local and state government customers; Sealing Aggregates, Railway Ballast, Class 2, 3 & 4 Fine Crushed Rock.

2013 will be another big year with a focus on increasing the range of value added products from the quarry and continued focus on the mobile crushing and screening side of the business.

The CMPA has been an important part in the growth of the business, whether it be through gaining direct advice from other members such as Ron Kerr or through the establishment of an informal network of contacts at events such as the Annual Dinner or workshops throughout the year.

Being a privately owned operation and having the CMPA there to provide support and up to date information on industry trends, as well as changes to rules and regulations is a great asset.

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