When blasting restrictions in parts of western Thailand interrupted a granite-quarrying operation in 2019, Thai mining company Silasomboonsub found itself in a difficult spot. They had no licence to excavate new stone material from the quarry, yet it had over 500,000 tons of blasted rock at the site needing to be processed. It was an opportunity in need of a machine. The choice of machinery for the task? Sandvik UJ310 and UH412 wheeled crushing units.
The premier Sandvik brand of heavy equipment was sourced from P.V. Mining and Exploration Company Ltd., a 45-year-old firm headquartered in Bangkok. The distributor of mobile crushers and screens is a Sandvik strategic partner and supplies industrial and mining companies with latest-generation machinery and engineering solutions. When mining was stoped, they needed to crush the blasted rock and turn it into a marketable product of ballast and aggregate material and they also needed a sound investment for the future of their operations.
They tuned to Sandvik, having built a reputation on their wheeled unit range as agile, user friendly guaranteed quality and easily serviced. In late April, the two-wheeled crushing units were delivered to the Silasomboonsub mine which is nestled among hardwood and evergreen forests in Kanchanaburi Province. Quickly set up with social distances measures in place, the two machines went to work breaking rock into dimensions required by customers throughout the region.
Machines that work in tandem
Sandvik UJ310 is a wheeled mobile unit mounted on a triple-axle-bogie trailer, a stable and compact platform. Powered by a 110kW electric motor, the unit’s CJ411 jaw crusher is rated to process up to 325mtph. The heavy-duty jaw crusher has a welded frame which ensures excellent durability under shock loads, and a deep symmetrical crushing chamber is designed to maximize feed size, capacity and reduction. An optimised nip angle ensures that the material progresses smoothly down the crushing chamber to enable high reduction, productivity and superb utilization of jaw plates.
Sandvik has engineered this model to operate as a primary crusher which can handle raw material up to 750mm.
The secondary crushing unit, Sandvik UH412, is a perfect companion to the primary crusher. It is mounted on a triple-axle-bogie trailer and has a four-deck vibrating screen to size product. The heart of the machine is a powerful Sandvik CH440 cone crusher, powered with a 220kW electric motor. It is designed to handle up to 325mtph, so it is comfortably twinned with Sandvik UJ310 in working the Silasomboonsub granite. It is a versatile crusher because of its crushing chamber options and an adjustable eccentric throw, meaning output is easily managed for any operator.
Some granite mined in western Thailand contains tin, which is a major export of the country. Silasomboonsub is one of the few mining operations with granite byproduct in sufficient quantities to offer contractors large volumes of the crushed stone. Granite is, of course, famously hard and durable, a strength that is depended on in a variety of construction applications. On selecting a machine for the task, the operators had to ensure that the models would be tough enough to endure the demands of the aggregate and still provide a sound investment for the future. For that application, Silasomboonsub’s granite rubble is being reduced to 23-63mm, 23-10mm, 10-7mm and 0-7mm.
Sandvik UH412 mobile cone crusher will produce aggregrate sizes to suit customer demands. After the stone is turned into construction aggregate, it will be sold to local Thai contractors, including for use on a major railway project.
Customer satisfaction at the core
The crushing operation got underway in May just as the monsoon season arrived. Manager on-site, Mr Amorn, reported that the two Sandvik units were delivering daily production and quality targets, and exceeding performance expectations —to no one’s surprise. In every transaction involving Sandvik’s machinery, the equipment itself is the bedrock of customer satisfaction. After all, no amount of sweet talk can offset the disappointment of an underperforming piece of machinery. Silasomboonsub became a Sandvik customer in the first place because of the Swedish manufacturer’s reputation as a designer and builder of superior aggregate-handling heavy machinery.
The machinery’s proven reliability is cementing the relationship. The confidence of Silasomboonsub owners was enhanced when they visited a Sandvik factory prior to purchasing the machinery. They saw for themselves the manufacturer’s capabilities and the quality control procedures in place.
However, the comfort level of the Thai company’s officials with Sandvik also is a reflection of the level of service provided by the Bangkok dealer, P.V. Mining and Exploration Ltd. After selling the two crushers to Silasomboonsub, PV Mining sales executives rolled up their sleeves and travelled to the mine.
The extra care was appreciated. Silasomboonsub praises P.V. Mining for its post-sales service and technical support, terming it “fantastic.” An example of this was the supervision provided at the mine during the commissioning of the crushers. P.V. Mining technical service experts stayed on site until the operation was working efficiently.
Returns outweigh cost
An additional measure of satisfaction for the Thai owners came as the crushing operation gained speed. The owners discovered that the day-to-day expense of operating the equipment was lower than what they had experienced using an earlier generation of crushing equipment.
For all of these reasons, Silasomboonsub executives assure Sandvik that they will be repeat customers. They recognize that purchasing quality machinery is an investment for the future.