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Glendore Sand and Stone is
owned and operated by the
father and son team of
Desmond and Gavin Eales.
Their Lovemore Park sand mine
plays head office to their two
similar but smaller operations
at the Coega Industrial
Development Zone (IDZ) and
Uitenhage. In business since
1987, they supply sand and
stone to clients as far as 200km
away, using their fleet of 15
trucks, ranging in capacity from
3 to 25 cubic metres.
“The building sand in the Eastern
Cape is known to be of a poorer |
quality than the SABS standard,”
Desmond Eales tells us. “We do
however add lime and chemicals
to it to reduce its water demand
and so improve the quality.”
Being in an industry where loading
tools are essential, Desmond Eales
had used a variety of front-end
loaders until he bought a Bell
L1206C Front End Loader (FEL) on
the pre-owned market in 1996. “I
was impressed by the simplicity
of this machine. That it was made
locally endeared it to us as much
as its performance in the pit,” he
says. |
Their faith in this one machine
led them to buy a new Bell L1806C
Plus II soon after with another
pre-owned Bell machine, this time
a Bell L1706C following the bigger
model into their fleet. “The Bell
L1806C is a superbly tough
machine and is solid as a rock,”
says Gavin Eales. “It gave us a
few minor problems with pins and
bushes initially but since fitting
a Vogel automatic lubrication
system, these problems have been
negated.”
During December 2005, the Eales’
decided to trade their Bell L1706C
FEL in on a new Bell L1506D |
Left: Gavin Eales, Alan Pottow and Desmond Eales in front of one of three
Bell L1506D Front End Loaders that form the backbone of Glendore Sand and
Stone’s loading operations.
machine. The former had clocked
up 12 000 hours and they were
able to trade it for the same
amount that they had paid for it
originally. This they felt to be
unquestionable testimony to the
market’s faith in the brand.
With a new machine covered by
an extended warranty up to 6 000
hours on its wet drive train they
immediately saw an increase in
their production. “This Bell
machine performs best in soft
sand and with its generous bucket
size of 2,3 cubic metres we easily
get a heaped load of 2,5 cubic
metres,” says Desmond Eales.
“Most of the trucks the machine
loads carry either 5 or 10 cubic
metres. This means the Bell
L1506D loads a truck with between
two and four scoops, a fact which,
when seen in a day’s production
cycle, gives us more loads.”
A second new Bell L1506D FEL
joined the fleet during June 2006
and has been deployed at their
Uitenhage quarry. “The Bell |
L1506D FELs form the backbone
of our loading equipment at our
two larger quarries because they
are so fast and efficient in their
loading actions,” Gavin Eales adds.
“We must also add that we work
them hard as they load and
stockpile material continuously
for ten hours at a stretch. When
they then return fuel consumption
figures of around 12 litres per
hour, we really can’t complain.”
On the performance of these
machines, a third Bell L1506 was
taken delivery of in April 2007.
Glendore Sands’ older FELs are
used for on-going rehabilitation
duties as this forms an integral
part of their operations. All
quarries in South Africa fall under
the jurisdiction of the state’s
mining authority and have to
adhere to strict rules regarding
rehabilitating mined-out areas.
To this end Glendore Sand also
has its own nursery to re-establish
the flora in the areas from where
they have extracted their products. |
They use their screened material
as the base layer for their
rehabilitation.
Although the first to concede that
their Bell L1506D FELs are still
new, the Eales’ still praise the
98% mechanical availability the
machines give them. This in turn
translates into their three quarries
loading around 3 000 cubic metres
of sand and stone into 350
truckloads every day.
Placing such pressure on their
machines would not be sustainable
without diligent and regular
maintenance and this is done after
business hours so as not to
interfere with production. “We’ve
been very happy dealing with the
Bell Equipment Customer Service
Centre in Port Elizabeth and while
doing an analysis of parts and
costs, were pleasantly surprised
to find that Bell Equipment’s parts
are on average 20% cheaper than
those of other manufacturers,”
Desmond Eales says. “This fact,
coupled to the superior
performance of their equipment,
will see us staying with the Bell
brand in future.” |
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