SOUTH WESTERN DISTRICT VISIT

By on February 12, 2012

ADRIAN TOWN reports on a recent trip in February 2012 to visit current and potential members in South West Victoria.

BRUCE McClure (General Manager CMPA) and Adrian Town (Management Committee member) visited members and prospective members, in the south western district of Victoria on the 21st and 22nd of February 2012.

This was the first of a number of field trips planned to cover as many districts as possible during the course of the year. The field trips are designed to allow members to discuss first hand issues that they may have with current operations, development or planning and what options or assistance the CMPA can provide.

We are able bring members up to date on what the Association is currently working on, such as issues affecting our industry, what we are doing about them, submissions to Government, Industry meetings with government and other bodies. The latest range of CMPA publications are displayed including training manuals, developed by the CMPA in conjunction with members including, Work Safely Reference Manual, Conduct Crushing, Conduct Screening and Conduct Screening and Crushing, (these manuals are also used by industry Training providers), check lists for plant and machines and other publications such as issue resolution pads, managers’ report book etc.

We also use this opportunity to call on non-members to discuss the advantages of becoming a member of the CMPA. It was pleasing to see all the extractive operations called on during this visit were busy. The following operations were visited:

Frank R. Russell Pty Ltd: Located outside of Colac and managed by Mark RusselI. This is a basalt quarry producing crushed rock through a fixed crushing plant.

B M & VJ Gent: Scoria pit at Camperdown managed by Bruce Gent. His company has now become a member of the CMPA. The pit has been in operation for many years producing ripped and screened products.

Cobden Lime: Produces agricultural lime at a site located at Cobden and managed by David Germano. This company is a member of the CMPA. This is a large operation. The material is ripped and then delivered to a special purpose designed crushing plant capable of handling the difficulties associated with the production of fine crushed lime and its storage. The plant was designed and built by David using his long experience in plant design within the crushing industry. The Germano Family have a long association with the industry with quarries in Mount Waverly, Montrose and then moving to Colac to take up Riordans Quarries. This business was sold to Ready mix some years ago, with David then starting a plant design supply operation but the call of quarrying was to great, so he ended up going back into Quarrying, developing the green fields Cobden lime operation.

R L Blake Pty Ltd: Managed by Chris Blake, this operation has a number of pits (tuff and scoria) in the Cobden area. A member of the CMPA.

Timboon Lime: Managed by Leon Nelis, this operation produces agricultural lime through the use of mobile plant.

Gillear Agriculture Lime: Located near Warrnambool and Quarry Manager is Gary Bell. Th is is a large Quarry operation producing both agricultural lime and crushed rock. Raw material is ripped and depending on the product required the material is processed through either fixed or track plant.

Douglas Addinsall Scoria Supplies: Located at Macarthur, Quarry Manager is Doug Addinsall. Th is scoria pit has been in operation for many years producing a unique black scoria by ripping and screening. The product is highly sort after by the landscaping industry.

Moree Quarries: Member of the CMPA, Quarry Manager is Bob Ferguson. This is a large quarry operation producing both aggregates and crushed rock. Material is columnar basalt that when blasted produces a consistent top size reducing any blockages in the primary jaw. As the material is low in abrasion it is suitable for impact crushing. The tertiary crusher in this plant is a VSI producing a very acceptable shaped aggregate. Due to the quality of the products, material is delivered as far away as Mount Gambier supplementing the sister operation at Mount Shank. Bob assisted the CMPA in developing a new Shotfirer’s Book and Magazine Management Safety Checklist. Whilst we were on site we were able to deliver the first of these new books and check lists.

Rigby Bros & Co Colerain: Jayson Rigby showed us around the operation. Th e material crushed is a quarry blasted Trachyte with secondary and tertiary crushing carried out by impacting. The product is used as aggregate and crushed rock. This quarry has been in operation for many years and is now into the third generation of the Rigby family.

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