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Asthe closest quarry to New York City, TilconNewYork’s West Nyack facility is in a privilegedposition due to steady construction growth and

expansion in the greater New York area. But TilconNew York are well aware that with such privilegecomes responsibility. ‘We are responsible for providingquality aggregate at a reasonable price for themarket,’ commented Bernardo Bulnes, plantmanagerat West Nyack Quarry.That said, business has been good for West Nyack

and its two sister sites — Tomkins Cove andHaverstraw quarries — located in Rockland County,NY, just north of and across the Hudson river fromYonkers. While aggregate producers in some parts ofthe US have had to cut back production goals, West

Nyack Quarry has slowly been working towards aprojected increase in production of more than 35%.‘There have been a lot of big infrastructure projects

going on in New York City, as well as work on theFreedom Tower and the building of sports complexesfor the Yankees and the Mets, and work on high-rises,said Mr Bulnes. ‘Having a source of aggregate nearbyis a great benefit for these contracts. And at thislocation we produce trap rock, which is very abrasive,so it’s also excellent for high-friction applications andspeciality paving projects, such as airport tarmacs andSuperPave.’The West Nyack site was originally owned by the

Trap Rock Company, which commenced operations in1911, although the quarry can actually trace its �

Moving AheadNew York quarry completes upgrades to meet production growth

Tilcon New York’s West Nyack Quarry

10 www.Agg-Net.com December 2010

roots back as far as themid-1800s as a source of stonefor the surrounding area. The site received its firstmajor upgrade in 1958, and was upgraded again in1999 to produce 2.5million tons per year. Bymid-2008the quarry was in the process of another upgrade withthe eventual goal of producing 3.2 million tons a year.

AA vvaasstt vveennttuurreeWest Nyack Quarry has several working benches, butin order to increase production Tilcon New York havebeen working to open new areas for extraction as wellas switching other areas from extraction to processingas they move their crushing and screening stages tomake best use of the 150-acre property for futureproduction. As part of these changes, the company hasalso invested in various equipment upgrades. At the end of 2007, the facility’s crushing process

included an Allis Chalmers 42in x 65in primarygyratory, a 7ft Symons secondary crusher, a 51/2ftSymons tertiary crusher, a Raptor XL400 quaternarycone crusher from FLSmidth and a Svedala H4000quaternary cone crusher. ‘In January 2008 we replaced the H4000 with

another Raptor XL400 for our quaternary stage, andright now we’re setting up new sites to locate theprimary and secondary crushers,’ said Mr Bulnes.‘We’re getting a new H7800 cone and we’re alsomaking room to move our tertiary. In addition, we willinstall a new primary that will be the first of its kindin operation — a 54-series (55in x 83in) heavy-duty,top-service gyratory crusher from FLSmidth.’ Mr Bulnes explained how the design of this gyratory

crusher allows service to be performed on the unit bypulling necessary parts from the top, which eliminatesthe need to send personnel down into the crusher unit.‘This feature will be a great advantage from a safety

standpoint,’ he said.According to Mr Bulnes, in all of Tilcon New York’s

early preparations, it was the addition of the secondRaptor cone crusher that helped West Nyack Quarryturn a corner, as it began to increase production in2008. ‘We bought the first Raptor cone in 2005. It wasactually an emergency purchase, which can be harderto justify than a planned purchase, but we needed anew cone to replace a failed H4000,’ he explained. ‘Wewanted a cone that was comparable to the oldmachine, but could provide better throughput andproduction for future goals. We also needed amanufacturer that was reliable and could support themachine, so we looked at customer response and partsavailability. When we looked at the Raptor conecrusher, we knew it was the first XL400 cone thecompany had produced – serial number 001 – but wehad used their rebuild services in the past and wetrusted their capabilities. The price and warranty wereattractive, and as we’re not afraid to experiment withnew products, we decided to give them a shot. Withit being serial number 001, we probably were goingout on a limb, but it turned out to be a good decision.’The XL400 ran alongside a second H4000 for a

couple of years, during which it began to prove thatits production capabilities provided improvementover the older cone. According to John DeAngelis,maintenance supervisor at West Nyack, the older conehad about two-thirds the capacity of the Raptor conecrusher, so more material had to be sent to the Raptorthan the H4000. ‘If the Raptor cone was shut down formaintenance it would cause production issues,because the older cone could not produce fastenough,’ he said. ‘Also, the H4000 was not asautomated, so we replaced it with a second Raptorcone at the beginning of the year as a step in ourupgrade to increase production, match our goals andautomate the process as we completed our crushingcircuit.’The design of the Raptor XL400 cone crusher

features a high pivot point and large crushing strokethat is said to offer better crushing action throughoutthe crushing chamber than many competitive models.An active feed opening creates a desirable end-product shape for high production of salable material,while a large head diameter of 52in (1.3m) allows theXL400 to accept feed sizes up to 25% larger than thoseaccepted by crushers with less throw or head diameter. Automated features include advanced overload-

sensing technology that detects crushing forceoverloads. Should this occur, a simple alarm isactivated or, alternatively, the system can beconfigured to automatically take corrective action. Thissame advanced automation system can be used tooptimize crusher performance, with feed control,setting adjustment and monitoring of all criticallubrication and hydraulic parameters. The crusher also employs ‘fail-safe’ hydraulics

through an internal relief valve within the dual-acting tramp-release cylinders. This feature ensuresthat the machine is protected from mechanicaloverload in the event of an accumulator bladder failure.As an additional safety feature, a counter-clockwiserotation crushing action that protects the machine ifadjustment ring movement is excessive or if the ringgear brake fails comes as standard on all Raptor conecrusher models.Mr Bulnes pointed out that, between the installation

of the first and second XL400 units at West Nyack,Tilcon New York placed another three Raptor XL400

Two new Raptor XL400 conessupplied by FLSmidth

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December 2010 www.Agg-Net.com 11

cones in other locations. ‘This decision was based onthe success we had with the first one,’ he said.‘In addition to the new cone, our winter 2008

upgrade also included a surge bin upgrade. Wereplaced our belt feeders with vibratoryelectromagnetic feeders, which helped our throughputand performance,’ he explained. In addition, a new dryclassifying system now cuts the –200 mesh materialfrom all –1/4in manufactured sand product, and newconveyors have prepared the plant to fully handleadded capacity. Additionally, the site has added newloaders to improve feed to the new gyratory primarycrusher when it is in place.

PPrrooggrreessss wwiitthhiinn tthhee pprroocceessssAt West Nyack Quarry, the first three crushing stagesare open circuit. The primary gyratory crushes thestone to –8in and sends it to a surge pile. At thesecondary stage, the 7ft cone crusher further reducesthe material which is then screened to – 11/4in and11/4in x 1/2in. The 5ft cone crushes the oversizematerial and sends it to a three-deck screen that sizesit to 3/4in, 5/8in and 3/8in. The quaternary stageoperates in a closed-circuit, with the two RaptorXL400s set at a 1/2in closed-side setting. Each of the Raptor XL400 cones can produce at 750

tons/h, which allows the company to send stone to oneor both crushers, depending on production needs. Foranything over 750 tons/h, production is split betweenthem. ‘The science of breaking rock hasn’t really changed

in recent years,’ commented Mr Bulnes. ‘Mechanically,equipment is pretty much the same. It’s how youoptimize and manage your equipment, make use ofautomation and interface with computers that helpsto improve the equipment’s performance. For instance,we can control both Raptor crushers with onecomputer program and one screen, which is a bigimprovement over our other set-up where we had to

go back and forth between two computer programs.’John DeAngelis said he appreciates the cones’ ease

of maintenance. ‘The controller tells us how much theliners have worn, so it’s easier to schedule liner changes, and there are very few moving parts, sothey are easy to work on,’ he said. ‘We’ve enjoyed a lotlonger uptime with these machines than with crusherswe’ve used in the past. That makes it easier for us toproduce the stone we need to match our sales.’ �

The Raptor XL400 conesdeliver greater productivitythan their predecessors

Both Raptor XL400 cones arecontrolled from one screen

12 www.Agg-Net.com December 2010

West Nyack’s production manager, Wayne Hardick,agreed: ‘The controller package allows us to adjustthem automatically, and if we keep the [fluid] levelscorrect, and change the oil on schedule, they’repractically maintenance-free. We typically go 400,000tons before we need to make a liner change,’ he said.‘Until we get the FLSmidth gyratory into production,

the bottleneck is now at the current primary,’ saidBernardo Bulnes. And according to his estimates, atthe upgraded production rate, the West Nyack site willstill have approximately 35–40 years of materialreserves.

EExxttrraa eeffffoorrttss yyiieelldd ccoommmmuunniittyybbeenneeffiittssWest Nyack Quarry runs all year round, only shuttingdown for six weeks in January and February formaintenance, repairs and crusher rebuilds. According

to Charlie Beers, the operation’s pit manager,blasting takes place just once or twice a week at noon.‘We blast bigger shots this way, but we’ve found that,for neighbour relations, it’s better to shoot morematerial less often. Also, we have started to drill andblast in the west side of the pit, which is deeper inthe hole, so it’s quieter,’ he said.Mr Beers explained that another part of the

operation’s current upgrade includes movingstockpiles to better accommodate the new primary,as well as organizing other stockpiles to help ensureleaner overall throughput. ‘Transportation costsmore than the stone now,’ he noted, ‘which is why weare working to organize things better to eliminatesuch problems as returned product.’These additional efforts to upgrade the operation

emphasize Tilcon New York’s determination toimprove more than just the quarry’s productionfigures. For example, one project that was completedin the summer of 2008 involved a US$300,000restoration of the historic Storms Tavern, which formspart of the site. This helped improve opinions onTilcon New York among the local residents.Mr Bulnes also explained that while West Nyack

Quarry is west of the Hudson river, it is locatedbetween Lake Deforest, which provides potablewater to New York City, and the Palisades Mall, apopular three-storey indoor shopping center. ‘Thisis actually a very urban area and we have beenworking to address community concerns regardingnoise, dust and traffic,’ he said. By the end of 2009,the quarry had closed the entrance by the lake andopened a new one off the interstate, which greatlyreduced truck traffic. ‘We spray material at allcrushing stages and on conveyors as a dust-controlmeasure. And from an aesthetic point of view, the oldbuildings that had been here since 1958 are nowgone.’ While some may see all these efforts as overkill,

Mr Bulnes disagrees, because he firmly believes thatwith privilege comes responsibility. ‘We’re theclosest quarry to New York City,’ he said. ‘All eyes areon this plant for a lot of reasons.’ QM

Quarry Report

West Nyack’s closed-circuitquaternary stage

The Palisades Mall indoorshopping centre is locatedadjacent to the quarry