Dredging sand

[EZ TRBO]

Here are a few photos from our sand pit, just got the wash plant and dredge going.
Enjoy

 

[Lashlander]

Nice pics. Is that just sand or does it come with rock in it too? What do you use the sand for? Is it clean enough for concrete or is it road sand? How big is the dredge? Tons per hour? You forgot to answer all those questions in your post!

 

[EZ TRBO]

The sand has rocks in in it, its river sand just off the Mississippi River in Wisconsin. The screen plant screens the rocks out first before it is washed. Two types of sand are piled, Mason sand and concrete sand. As far as tonage, they can put up around 2500 ton a day, total material(rocks, mason and concrete sand). The dredge total weight is bout 50 tons. I don't know much about it but am learning. I will find out more if you have more questions.
Jason

 

[Lashlander]

Thanks for the reply.:drinkup

 

[mitchell2905]

Does the abrasive sand wear on the dredge parts/pipes quick?

 

[EZ TRBO]

Does the abrasive sand wear on the dredge parts/pipes quick?

I don't work daily with the sand crew but in helping set up and tear down I have learned alot. They spend a lot of time in the winter doing a lot of build up welding, re-plating, etc. They will run about 10 months out of the year and can put up about 5,000 tons a week. One of the mechanics/fabricators at the main shop spends most of his time working and helping with the sand dredge stuff.
Trbo

 

[Turbo21835]

Just curious as to why you guys are using a dredge. Why not a drag line or one of these http://www.ramseycoinc.com/Photos.htm . I know the dredges are limited to the depth that they can work. Ive actually seen both used at the same pit. so I was wondering what the benefits are other than depth.

Josh

 

[EZ TRBO]

Before the company I work before got bought out they had used a drag line for years. The parent company used the sand dredge and instead of working all year at one pit the dredge can put up a years worth of sand in bout a months time, and then move to another pit. The operate out of 6 different sand pits. I actually used a long reach to stock pile corse sand in one area, and hauled it to where they were dredging to blend it. I do believe that depth is somthing that we have to deal with the DNR on, as we are right on the Mississippi River.
Trbo

 

[245dlc]

In my area there are a few slackline dragline's in use and depending on which operation some are dredging down as deep as 80' which is the legal limit set by Conservation here. But one of the problems they encounter is that with all the splashing they lose shoreline, as well the material being dragged up in the bucket gets washed out as it's pulled up to the shore. So what one outfit has been doing for years is they use a floating clamshell gantry dredge, the older one has two buckets and the new one has one single 16 cu. yd. clamshell. Both machines also can either stockpile material or feed a large screening, crushing, wash plant so they can make material clean enough for concrete and asphalt production.

 

[heavylift]

I noticed around here the pipe is rotated... moving the wear area... but they are pumping about 1/2 mile... the one lake with a dredge has a pump on shore... then 3/8 of a mile away is another pump.. then to the plant

 

[Exact Express]

Just curious as to why you guys are using a dredge. Why not a drag line or one of these http://www.ramseycoinc.com/Photos.htm . I know the dredges are limited to the depth that they can work. Ive actually seen both used at the same pit. so I was wondering what the benefits are other than depth.

Josh

The one advantage I can see with the suction dredge is that it pumps the sand right to the screen, so it doesn't need to be handled twice.

 

[HSV127]

Hi guys, thought you might be interested in this, not a sand dredge but a gold dredge, it's located on the west coast of the south island New Zealand.

The whole thing weighs 3500 ton, each of the 104 buckets hold 1 ton of gravel, the bucket ladder weighs 500 tons, it can dig at 25 buckets per minute and to a depth of 30 meters (100') below the water line.

 

[oregon96pd]

Holy crap I'm gonna guess that's not used anymore? (Rust on the bucket's look's a little more than surface)

 

[HSV127]

Holy crap I'm gonna guess that's not used anymore? (Rust on the bucket's look's a little more than surface)

When I went and looked at it, it had been mothballed for a few years but it's now operating again as far as I know.

 

[Sidney43]

Interesting to see a modern large dredge. When I was quite a few years younger (1955) we lived down the Klamath River in N. California. The river had been extensively dredged where tributary creeks entered, starting in the 1930's, stopped during WWII and then the larger dredges operated until the late 1940's. There was a large dredge sitting in a pond about a hundred yards from the river and the dredge company still had a watchman keeping an eye on it. We were run off many times, even though we tried to keep an eye out for him. In the sixties, the three largest ones were dismantled and shipped off to South America as I recall. The four or five small ones were destroyed in a major flood at Christmas 1955.

The design doesn't change much, but the gold recovery is probably a lot more efficient now.