Crushing Contractor Tops Up Fleet with Mobile Jaws

Milbrae Quarries, a family-run quarrying and mining services business has expanded on the local contract crushing market. Chris Woods shared stories about Milbrae and its recent Metso:Outotec mobile jaw crushers purchase and working together with Tutt Bryant Equipment for the past seven years.

Milbrae Quarries is part of a privately owned group of companies that provide specialised services in quarrying, mining, concrete manufacture and supply across NSW, QLD, VIC and NT. Its headquarters are based in Leeton, in the NSW Riverine district. Established in 1969 as a small trades service business, PA Woods and Co has evolved into an important competitor in the mining services industry, providing contract crushing services to many big players Australia-wide. From humble beginnings the company consolidated its quarrying business in 1999 to become Milbrae Quarries Pty Ltd.

“The company name ‘Milbrae’ comes from the first property that we bought near Leeton – we commenced quarrying on the site, and when we started out our office was just a telephone on a pole in the middle of paddock” recalled Chris Woods, the Managing Director of Milbrae Quarries today. “Nowadays the Milbrae site acts as our company headquarters and is home to our mechanical, engineering, transport and drill and blast teams”

“The property’s original name was ‘Millbrae’ with two ‘L’ letters in it, but we are a race horsing family and my father, Peter Woods, insisted that we drop one letter out of it to get seven – so that’s why it has one ‘L’ in it!” Woods laughed. “A number of famous racehorses had seven letter names!”

Having founded the business more than 50 years ago, Peter Woods now enjoy a well-earned retirement. Milbrae is currently managed by Peter’s two sons – Chris and Brett. Chris is the Managing Director overseeing the performance of the business as well as the mining services activities while Brett primarily drives the operational side of the business.

Contract Quarrying Services

Milbrae’s growth has been impressive, conducting mobile crushing for Leeton Shire Council 25 years ago. Today, it produces several million tonnes per annum output from its mobile crushing business and more than six million tonnes in its contract mining services division.

Milbrae has supplied product for numerous projects including:

• Australian Rail Track Corporation and John Holland specification ballast
• Armoured rock for large water catchments
• Heavily bound road bases for transport for NSW, including on-site incorporation of binder via pugmill
• B80 concrete mixes for transport for NSW
• Pre-cast panels for various private projects, including a shopping centre in Wangaratta and Quest Apartment in Griffith

Heavy-Duty Duo

Milbrae recently purchase two Lokotrack LT130E hybrid mobile jaw crushers, which are suitable as primary crusher in large-scale quarrying and mining operations. For optimised energy efficiency, the hybrid LT130E can run on an external drive, or in locations where this is not possible, an integrated 403kW Caterpillar C15 engine and 500kVA generator power package.

The LT130E incorporates Metso:Outotec’s renowned Nordberg C130 jaw crusher for large-scale quarrying applications. It is Metso’s largest standard mobile jaw crusher, with a feed opening of 1300mm x 1000mm (51″ x 39″) for coarser feed material, and its heavy-duty design can manage the hardest materials. A small nip angle and kinematics ensure aggressive crushing along the whole length of the crushing cavity and for all rock conditions. The maximum output of the LT130E, in the right conditions, can be up to 1000tph.

The Lokotrack LT130E can be optimised to move smoothly between sites. All the electric and hydraulic connections have quick couplings for easy disassembly. Optimised lifting points, along with user-friendly and safe hydraulic features, reduce downtime, while an easy split feature makes portability and set-up easier.

Tutt Bryant Equipment 

Any successful mobile contract crushing service is only as good as the equipment that it operates. While the Lokotrack LT130E has previously been trialed and demonstrated by Tutt Bryant Equipment at Lima South Quarry in Victoria, these are the first units bought by an Australian quarrying producer. Wayne Kruger – Tutt Bryant Equipment Metso:Outotec Technical Sales Representative, said this is important milestone because “Milbrae will have the two biggest Lokotracks in NSW. Beside mobile cranes, the LT130E is the biggest piece of mobile equipment that Tutt Bryant has ever sold”.

Milbrae has worked with Tutt Bryant Equipment, the national distributor of Metso:Outotec Lokotrack and Nordtrack ranges of mobile crushers and screens, for the past seven years. The company’s Lokotrack crushing fleet comprises two 63 tonne LT120 jaw crushers, one LT106 jaw crusher, four 43 tonne LT300HP cone crushers and seven 55 tonne LT1213S impact crushers.

Chris Wood said Milbrae was drawn to the Metso:Outotec line-up because it has a strong reputation for reliability and robustness. “We believe that Metso is one of the best producers of plant and equipment in the world. The early days were a little challenging but Tutt Bryant made a commitment to improve their back-up service and customer relations, and the relationship has come a long way, particularly with people like Wayne Kruger (Tutt Bryant Equipment’s technical sales representative for the Metso tracked plant), who had a hands-on crushing background. That’s always a big plus when people like Wayne have worked in crushing, it helps the salesperson understand the key challenges that the customer faces on the ground”.

Dedicated Service

With Metso:Outotec mobile gear constituting 50 per cent of its fleet, to say Milbrae Quarries has a “good” relationship with Tutt Bryant Equipment would be an understatement.

While Milbrae has a mechanical and maintenance division that looks after the upkeep of all its plant and equipment, Chris Woods and his regional operation manager Scott Gillieatt said that Tutt Bryant Equipment’s aftermarket service in invaluable.

“Our partnership has been so successful because of the robutness and ongoing technological advances of Metso gear” Gillieatt said.

“We’re also really happy with the service and maintenance side of things. The servicing comes into that as a complete package. The Tutt Bryant Equipment technicians are in constant contact with our own mechanical department. They’re great on the service, and their equipment is innovative and very user-friendly as well”.

Kruger said that a major selling point of the Lokotrack plant for many quarry producers was Tutt Bryant Equipment’s assurance package. “We provide regular technical assistance and warranty inspections. We provide an extended warranty with the equipment – 10,000 hours or five years, whichever comes first. Tutt Bryant is also the only one that offers that type of extended warranty in the market”.

“Further, we do on-site commissioning training an we’ll always provide over the phone technical support and advice”.

“Tutt Bryant Equipment and Metso:Outotec are improving their support and back-up services all the time” Woods concluded. “They’re always asking for feedback about how they can improve their equipment”.

“I think you would say that over the years Metso has proved to be reliable and we consider them to be the better machines in the industry”.

With that sense of optimism, it is likely that Milbrae’s LT130Es and other Lokotrack mobile plant will continue to be a mainstay of the company’s quarrying, mining and contract crushing businesses for many years to come.

Source: Quarry Magazine
Image: Quarry Magazine / Milbrae Quarries

Click Here to learn more about Metso:Outotec product range.

For further information please contact:
Wayne Kruger
Technical Sales Representative
(02) 4903 8555
0409 784 591
wayne.kruger@tuttbryant.com.au