Kings Town Inc., a trucking and excavation company in business for more than 20 years, is making a molehill out of a mountain.
Several years ago, in 1998, Kings Town received a permit to mine shale stone on 10 acres (4 ha) of its 70-acre (28 ha) site on Route 28 in the Town of Kingston, NY. The site has been in the John Walker family for many years and recently, the family decided to prepare the site for both commercial and residential development. To accomplish this task, a mountain is going to be moved by being turned into aggregate.
Shale stone can be crushed into a variety of sizes and used for residential and commercial projects. The company works with local contractors and municipalities providing aggregate for roadwork, site work, driveways and other suitable projects.
For the initial work of moving the mountain, Walker purchased a Finlay 393 screening plant from Contractors Sales in Albany, NY, for rough screening.
The next step was to blast the rock from the mountain. This work is being done by D & K Rock Services Inc., of Port Ewen, NY. Approximately 1 million yards (914,400 m) of material will be removed from the site during the course of bringing down the mountain.
To turn the blasted rock into aggregate, Walker needed to purchase a crushing plant. He called upon the services of Lance Conley and his company, Atomic Truck & Equipment Inc., of Nelliston, NY. Atomic is an authorized dealer for a variety of jaw, cone and impact crushers, screening boxes, magnets and conveyor systems. Conley is in the position to be able to work independently with a variety of manufacturers to size-up the needs of his customers and create a custom-designed crushing system at an economical price.
To find a suitable crushing system, Walker and Conley visited the facilities of RR Equipment Company in Lancaster, SC, where they met with the company’s president, Robert Rossi. RR will be taking some of their components combined with what Atomic was offering and turn them into a customized crushing plant for Kings Town.
“I chose to do business with Lance Conley and Atomic Truck & Equipment because I found them to be honest and straightforward. When he took us to South Carolina to meet with the Rossi’s from RR Equipment it was obvious we were meeting with professionals who truly understood aggregate production.”
The package put together for Kings Town included a primary 24 by 36 jaw with a vibrating grizzly feeder, front discharge, and an under-crusher conveyor equipped with a cross-belt magnet.
The secondary cone crusher is a 3-ft. (.9 m) Crushking with a 514 incline screen. The system is supported by three 24 in. by 60 ft. (61 cm by 18 m) radial stacking conveyors. The completed system operates comfortably at a production level of 200 tons (180 t) per hour, but has an optimum production rate of 250 tons (225 t) per hour. This complete crushing system is supported by Atomic, because none of the parts are “captive.”
Materials that Kings Town is currently producing include half-in. (1.3 cm) minus, 1- and 2-in. (2.5 and 5 cm) stone, course item 4, screen fill, 3-in. and 4-in. (8 and 10 cm) mix, shot rock, crusher run, top soil, and three-quarter-in. (2 cm) clean stone.
In addition to the purchase of the crusher, Walker had to further expand his inventory of equipment to include a Cat 966 loader and a couple of Cat D250 haul trucks for moving material to and from the crushing site.
However, the biggest challenge for Walker is creating a demand for the aggregate that Kings Town is producing. At the present time, the company is primarily relying on word-of-mouth and sending out flyers to local contractors and municipalities to sell its aggregates. Walker predicts that it could take up to six years before the mountain will be taken down.
Once the mountain is gone, the road frontage along Route 28 will be developed into mall property and the acreage beyond the mall will be developed into commercial property.
RR Equipment Company manufactures turnkey portable recycling, crushing, screening and aggregate systems. Its complete fabrication facility enables it to custom-build stands, skids, structures or complete portable systems. It also offers a complete line of previously owned, reconditioned, and new spreads.
For more information, call Kings Town at 845/339-3347, Atomic at 516/523-3332 or RR at 803/416-5200.
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