Peter Bennie take second LT105

Peter Bennie Ltd have purchased a second Metso Minerals LT105 track-mounted mobile crusher to spearhead aggregate production at Ennstone Breedon’s South Witham Quarry in Lincolnshire. It joins a two-year-old SW348 wheel-mounted mobile screen already at the site.

Peter Bennie are responsible for extracting and processing approximately 5,500 tonnes/week of soft oolitic limestone into some 26 different products and grades at the site. Limestone is dug direct from the quarry face by a 45-tonne Komatsu PC450 equipped with a 1.8m3 capacity bucket loading directly into the LT105’s Nordberg TK11-42-2V vibrating feeder. On the rare occasions when bridging occurs within the feed hopper or the crusher’s C105 jaw, the bucket is replaced with a 2.1m Leemac ripper tine that is suitable for removing blockages.

‘The limestone at South Witham is very soft and does not require blasting,’ explained contracts manager Mark Deadman. ‘The ability of the track-mounted LT105 to follow the excavator along the face makes it the ideal machine for this application.’

The LT105 was purchased to replace a larger wheel-mounted unit that had worked at South Witham for a number of years. As Peter Bennie operate a number of sites, deployment and redepolyment times are a vital consideration. The wheel-mounted plant could take more than a day to set up on a new site while the LT105 is ready in around 10min.

The quarry at South Witham has reserves and planning permission for at least another 3 million tonnes. With phase two of the quarry’s development now well into its second year, the LT105 looks set for a long and productive life.