new £4.5m conveyor system will boost productivity and sustainability at torr super quarry

Holcim UK has made a significant investment in both productivity and sustainability at its Torr Works ‘super-quarry’ in Somerset with the introduction of a new, multi-million pound uphill conveyor system.

Image

Situated a few miles from the town of Shepton Mallet, the 2.5km Torr Aggregate Plant offers a broad range of high-quality aggregates, sand and gravel, and specialist sands products for construction projects and specialised applications across the UK. 

The investment of £4.5 million into the new, 250m conveyor system was essential to support the relocation of the mobile primary crusher – which has been in operation for the past 42 years – for the continued extraction of limestone from a lower bench of the quarry floor.

Image

The conveyor system will play a vital role in carrying greater loads of crushed materials from the new working floor to the processing facility at the far side of the complex, from where it is then packaged and distributed to customers.  

Furthermore, the new system brings considerable sustainable benefits to the work at Torr. This is because it negates the need for loading haul vehicles to transport the approximately 2,000 lbs of stone that are processed every hour, thereby significantly reducing the carbon footprint on site while maximising efficiencies.

Image

Commenting on the investment, James Pike, regional director for south west aggregates at Holcim, said: “We are delighted with the investment in the new conveyor system at Torr Works, which will be pivotal for ensuring that we can continue extracting rock both sustainably and efficiently, delivering the products for our customers at the rate that they demand it. 

“The only way we could deliver such a big project was with the help of the wider Holcim group, who supported us with the funding. The actual implementation of the system, however, has been overseen by our team on the ground, who have worked tirelessly to make this innovation a reality.

“Torr is such an important quarry for all of Holcim, and we play an integral multidisciplinary role within the business. Making sure we have the right people on site, from project manager to operators, was vital for ensuring that we could deliver this project on time.”

To find out more about the Holcim’s range of high-quality aggregate products, visit www.holcim.co.uk/products/aggregates.