Pictured : Sam Powell, Onetrak – Bill Askew & Billy Askew, Brucknell Lime
Brucknell Lime upgrade operations with the help of Anaconda Equipment
Brucknell Lime located in Brucknell in the shire of Corangamite, in South-West Victoria is a family owned and operated limestone quarry that has been in the industry for over 35 years. The business was founded in 1985 by father and son Lindsay and Bill Askew. Today it is a third-generation family business as Bill continues to run the quarry together with his son Billy.
The quarry is located at the rear of the family’s property which also includes a working dairy farm. In the quarry the fleet of machines include a 35ton excavator, a smaller excavator for clean-up around the site, two dozers, two wheel loaders, a Striker impactor and an Anaconda screen and a stacker.
The Anaconda screen and stacker were purchased and delivered in late 2021 to replace an older screen. “Demand has increased and we needed to update and get more capacity”, Bill explains.
“We had seen the Anaconda machines advertised in the magazines and thought they looked good. Since we owned a Striker crusher we were already dealing with Onetrak for spare parts. We got put on to Sam Powell who worked out the dimensions for recirculation and was able to give us advice on what equipment would be best suited to the application we are working in”, Billy explains.
“Sam is super responsive and will answer your call at any hour of the day. Jason MacDonald from Onetrak is the same, always super helpful and always finds out the answer to any question”, Billy adds. Adding the stacker to the plant has allowed for a bigger stockpile making the wheel loader more efficient when loading the trucks. The Anaconda stacker is a hydraulic ST5032. The ST5032 has a 50ft conveyor belt which allows for substantial stockpiling.
“With the recirculation from the impactor the rocks are only fed in once meaning the excavator isn’t working as hard. We also get a better, more consistent product. It’s all about the lowest cost per tonne which is usually the best way to increase production in a quarry”, Billy explains. The new Anaconda Screen is an SR520 2 deck finishing screen. It has a capacity of up to 350 tonnes per hour and is fitted with a Tier 3 – JCB 444 DieselMAX – 120kw Engine.
“The screen has a remote-controlled tilting grid which helps clean out the rocks rather than having rocks stuck in the shaker box. There is no build up. The remote control is also a great safety feature”, Bill explains. “Some of the features of the new screen that stand out for us is the better visibility thanks to the walkway giving great access to the top of the screen. The area around the motor is very spacious making the screen’s serviceability easy”, Bill adds.
Brucknell Lime supply clay based Agricultural Lime to a large part of Victoria and to a wide range of local farmers. “Since we are working with limestone, we opted for an additional scraper on the belts to ensure the product doesn’t stick”, Bill continues. Brucknell Lime’s crusher is a 2010 Striker HQR1112 R impact crusher purchased second-hand 5 years ago. “The Striker has 13,700 hours on it. It’s a very reliable and well-built machine”, Bill adds.
Operating a dairy farm and a quarry is busy work. “Thanks to upgrading our equipment we have doubled the amount of trucks coming in to site. We’re working smarter – not harder!”, Bill adds with a smile. Billy concludes by talking about the aftersales support “Onetrak have always been good to deal with. Jason, Sam and one of the service technicians completed an extremely thorough commissioning of the machines when they were set up, ensuring everything was running perfectly”.