30% increase in the production of crushed stone at Barracão quarry

How to increase productivity?

Britagem e Pavimentadora Barracão has been operating in the aggregates market for 15 years and has the capacity to produce a total of 150 thousand tons of crushed stone per month in its plant. Located in Gaspar, Santa Catarina, Brazil, it has its own fleet and serves the entire Itajaí Valley region. The organization also owns an asphalt plant and supplies crushed plant material for the asphalt base along with standard or ecological asphalt produced from recycled rubber.

The company used to have a closed-circuit operation for crushed stone extraction but its activities had to be interrupted whenever there was a need to adjust or calibrate the equipment. This affected productivity of the plant greatly. Parallel to this, Barracão was also looking to increase fine materials production to meet increasing market demand.

New chapter in productivity

To resolve these issues, Barracao consulted Metso who suggested to install the revolutionary cone crusher Metso MX4 in the quaternary phase with an extra fine cavity to replace a competitor’s crusher. Just two months later, Barracão ordered a second Metso MX for use in the tertiary phase with a fine cavity to replace a Nordberg® HP4™ cone crusher which in turn replaced a competitor’s cone crusher in another part of the process.

“We have been working with Metso for many years. We have four Metso machines already installed in our process and now with the two MX4 cone crushers, we are achieving performance efficiency, production capacity and ease of operation. Our production quality is excellent and with less downtime we are reducing costs. MX4 liners have extended wear life with constant product gradation and production capacity in addition to the ease of quick liner replacement. We will no doubt be ordering new Metso machines again soon.” said the owner of Barracão, Antonio Assini.

Meeting market demand

Included in the main benefits, the company has measured a 30% increase in the production of fine materials with the new equipment and now has a production capacity of 130 thousand tons per month (of fine materials less than 5mm). This improvement is mainly attributed to the automatic adjustment settings during full production with the Metso’s MX4. Barracão revenues are up by 30% through high market demand for fine material products.

The quality of Metso’s after-sales service is another high point for the owner of Barracão’. “Even months after purchasing the equipment, I can still rely on the company’s assistance whenever necessary even helping us resolve problems caused by third parties.”

Metso MX4 features driving performance

Metso’s Development Engineering Manager, Paulo Barscevicius, “Designed with an aggressive crushing angle combined with a non-obstructive feed area increasing capacity and performance, the MX4 Multi-Action technology patent features a system for wear compensation, automatic adjustment settings and calibration for crusher protection. For increased safety in operation the crusher is equipped with automation and remote control. The bowl technology reduces liner replacement time once again saving costs.

About Barracão Crushing and Pavers

Founded in 2003 in Gaspar, Santa Catarina, Barracão Crushing and Pavers operates in the aggregates market and its plant has the capacity to produce 150,000 tons of crushed stone per month. The supply to their customers is demand-driven. The company has its own fleet and has trucks of all sizes to serve the entire region of the Itajaí Valley.