CalPortland, located in Atascadero, Calif., provides cement and construction materials to the western United States, with sites in Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada and Arizona.
CalPortland’s Rocky Canyon aggregate plant was first established in 1985 and taken over by CalPortland in 2008. This site processes two kinds of granite: blue vein and brown vein granite to produce a mixture of concrete aggregate, asphalt aggregate and class II road base.
To produce construction materials, the Rocky Canyon site was initially using a competitor’s jaw crusher that could not handle their desired processing capacity, only accepting material up to 18” (457 mm).
“Our challenge that we were facing in the quarry was our pattern for drilling and blasting. We wanted to open up the pattern to get larger rock, so we wanted a jaw with a bigger opening that could accept the bigger material,” said Ronnie Tremper, Operations Manager at CalPortland.
With the previous jaw crusher, CalPortland experienced frequent breakdowns and more downtime, putting a halt in productivity and efficiency.
“It would plug up all the time, so we had to constantly go up and dig those out with an excavator,” Tremper explained.
“We were running less, about three or four days a week,” said Kevin Greer, Plant Manager at CalPortland Rocky Canyon. “We were breaking down a lot, staying here overtime with the guys, trying to get it running.”
The old jaw crusher was no longer meeting CalPortland’s production needs, costing the site precious time and money. To meet the site’s demand to increase operation time and production, CalPortland reached out to McLanahan dealer Aggregate Machinery Specialist for a tailored crushing solution.
McLanahan worked with CalPortland and Aggregate Machinery Specialist to fine a crushing solution that would achieve the site’s goals of increased performance, reduced maintenance costs and time, and meeting hire production capacities. The solution was a McLanahan 3254H Universal Jaw Crusher.
After drilling and blasting the granite, material is loaded on two haul trucks and transported from the pit to a feeder that moves material directly into the Jaw Crusher. The 3254H Universal Jaw Crusher is adjustable for a wide range of discharge settings and speeds.
Because CalPortland processes two types of granite, the Jaw Crusher is adjusted depending on the kind of feed.
“We have a blue vein and a brown vein. The brown is a little softer material, and the blue is obviously harder. When we run the blue, we slow down the jaw a little bit just to keep everything choke fed and not overflood it,” Greer explained. “With the brown vein, we can run it at max capacity.”
The 3254H Universal Jaw Crusher accepts material up to 2’ (610 mm) in diameter and is producing 4” (102 mm) minus material. The 4” minus material is fed into a cone crusher and is sent to a finishing plant to complete CalPortland’s production process.
The McLanahan Jaw Crusher has been a success for CalPortland, saving the site money on electricity, improving runtime and increasing tons per hour.
“The McLanahan Jaw is running beautifully,” Greer said. “We went from 150 tons an hour to over 300 tons an hour through the jaw.”
McLanahan and Aggregate Machinery Specialist’s teams supported CalPortland throughout the entire installation process, answering any questions and educating the team on the components of the Jaw Crusher. McLanahan and Aggregate Machinery Specialist were able to have the site up and running in a timely manner to minimize downtime.
“Once we pulled out the old jaw and installed the new McLanahan Jaw, we were running within three days,” said Tremper.
The 3254H Universal Jaw Crusher has minimized CalPortland’s costs on electricity and helped produce material more efficiently. With the bigger blast patterns and new Jaw Crusher, the site is able to process more material and create more products.
Along with the benefits of increased production and cost savings, the Jaw Crusher has limited maintenance for easy operation and minimal downtime.
“The maintenance is virtually nothing,” Greer explained. “It’s really easy for the guys to work on.”
With the success of the 3254H Universal Jaw Crusher CalPortland’s Rocky Canyon site hopes to install more McLanahan equipment in the future.
