Big Day for Barrack Hill

Sandvik Construction hold launch event for QE341 and QA451 screeners at Barrack Hill Quarries  

The official launch of the new Sandvik QE341 scalper and QA451 triple-deck Doublescreen was marked by a series of events held from 15–19 April in Northern Ireland. During these events customers, global distributors and Sandvik personnel were able to participate in workshops focused on the new equipment, take part in a factory tour and view live equipment demonstrations at a nearby quarry.

One of the highlights for the guests was a factory tour and visit to Sandvik’s state-of-the-art Ballygawley facility, where they were joined by Northern Ireland Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster. This gave her the opportunity to meet Sandvik customers and stakeholders from all over the world, as well as seeing how the Sandvik operation contributes to the locality.

Of the new machines themselves, the QE341 provides customers with a world-leading scalper mounted on a robust crusher-style chassis. Designed for two- or three-way split applications, one of the major developments from its predecessor is a new user-friendly electrical control system; this incorporates a number of features to improve both operational effectiveness and machine safety. 

The fully radio-controlled QE341 has been specifically designed for contractors who require the flexibility of being able to travel quickly from site to site; hence the QE341 has hydraulically folding tail and side conveyors, possesses a rigid one-piece hopper that has been designed for quicker set-up times, and features revised tail-drum ground clearance for easier on-site tracking.

The new QA451 is the latest incarnation of the original S7 – the world’s first and only triple-decked Doublescreen that was originally launched six years ago. While retaining many features of the S7, and subsequent QA450, the QA451 improves on the productivity of its popular predecessors as well as seamlessly incorporating many further refinements designed to enhance customer productivity. With innovative new features such as hydraulic raise/lower and slew on the fourth product conveyor, the QA451 is designed to work in tandem with primary, secondary or tertiary crushers to produce clean aggregates with ease.

What made the entire launch event even more informative and beneficial for the visitors was actually seeing the QE341 and QA451 in operation at a local quarry. Sandvik say they are particularly fortunate to have formed a close working relationship with a leading Northern Ireland aggregates producer, Barrack Hill Quarries, who proved to be superb hosts, allowing Sandvik’s visitors to inspect the equipment first hand and note the roles played by the units in the aggregate production process.

Moreover, Barrack Hill Quarries also operate several other units from the Sandvik crushing and screening product lines, so the visitors were also able to view a QH331 track-mounted cone crusher, a QJ341 track-mounted jaw crusher and a new QI441 Prisec impact crusher processing a variety of materials.

Barrack Hill Quarries Ltd

Since their incorporation in 1992, Dungannon-based Barrack Hill Quarries have played an increasingly important role in the supply of high-quality basalt aggregates and stone to the Irish construction industry. With an armoury of some of the most up-to-date quarrying machinery currently available, continued development has seen the company invest in a number of the latest Sandvik crushing and screening machines to process their quarried materials even more accurately, while simultaneously improving production efficiencies and reducing emissions.

As a result of systematic business growth, Barrack Hill Quarries, and their sister company EPL Ltd, now employ more than 50 people in a variety of roles. As it has expanded, the business has also diversified into related areas such as demolition, recycling, plant hire, civil engineering, and crushing and screening contracting. However, despite the business diversification, operations are still very much centred on the company’s original Barrack Hill base, and it is from here that Barrack Hill Quarries set out to supply materials for use in various applications throughout Ireland.

The company’s clients now include some of the biggest players within the Irish construction industry, such as Sisk Construction, Laing O’Rourke, Farrans Construction (part of the CRH Group), Graham Construction and Rail Track Ltd. Materials supplied range from quarry dust to boulders, including crusher run or clean stone, various sized aggregates ranging from 6mm to 150mm, gabion stone, rock armour, and rubble, as well as filled sand bags.

In order to be able to produce and supply such a wide variety of stone and aggregates for such a wide variety of applications, Barrack Hill Quarries have invested in a variety of equipment from a cross-section of the leading construction equipment manufacturers. The common denominator is that the equipment has to be tough, hard wearing, efficient, minimize negative environmental emissions, possess the highest standards of health and safety, and contribute to the overall efficient productivity of the business. 

Some of the newest equipment the company has invested in includes the latest developments in tracked crushing and screening from Sandvik Construction, and according to Barrack Hill Quarries, a major reason for their investment in this range is due to Sandvik’s emphasis on enhancing their customers’ profitability, with machine performance being focused on producing the right mineral products at the desired levels of production. Additionally, Sandvik equipment not only aims to maximize customer profitability, but also to minimize environmental impact, while helping to deliver the safest possible working conditions.

An added benefit of possessing such versatile and productive equipment has been Barrack Hill Quarries’ ability to provide a wide range of additional services through their sister company Equipment and Plant Hire Ltd (EPL). Thus, the company now provides a contract crushing service for Farrans, Pitwood Quarries Ltd and McCormick demolition, among others, as well as demolition, recycling, muck shifting, site clearance and plant hire throughout Ireland.

For further information visit: www.construction.sandvik.com