Quarry Southern Africa May 2018 | Page 34

WINNING The life of all tyres can be significantly increased by a regular and consistent maintenance regime, which includes tyre monitoring. The Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) lists 881 quarrying operations located throughout South Africa. In 2016, 92.2 million tonnes of mined aggregate, clay, natural sand, dimension stone and limestone to the value of R9.4-billion was sold locally, while the value of exports of quarry products reached USD61.5-million*. Every day, dozens of short haul dump trucks amble from the breaking and loading site to the first crushing site carrying those millions of tonnes of payload, the rock that will eventually become the paths, roads and bridges we all traverse. If the average resident doesn’t realise the intense, lengthy process aggregates like limestone, for example, go through to become the familiar cement sidewalks, even more don’t realise the vital role mining tyres play along the way. In quarrying, the tyres on all the equipment is key to ensure that the product Any big mine or quarry’s sustainability depends to a large extent on tyres, a fact generally overlooked by most management teams. 32 _ QUARRY SA | MAY/JUNE 2018 gets mined and transported to the crushers until the finished product is ready for industry. Tyres used in quarries are placed under severe stress, and it is important that they always perform optimally. Eight years after Kal Tire was established in South Africa, and having acquired Tyre Corporation in 2017, the company now has more than 1 100 team members who provide mining tyre maintenance and supply across 80 South African mine sites. Every day, hundreds of dump trucks move millions of tonnes of payload from loading sites and open pits to crushing sites.