by Jon M. Casey

From the highway that passes G&J Paving & Materials of Chillicothe, OH, the scene that met us during our late June visit was one of a busy asphalt plant and quarry operation that was busy making paving material for jobs in the surrounding area. Joining us for a tour of the operation were G&J’s aggregates plant operator, Rob Smith and staff members of Ohio Crushing and Screening, the company that had recently sold G&J a Terex Finlay I-110 tracked impact crusher and a Terex Finlay 684 Supertrak two deck tracked screen plant. The addition of these two new units as the foundation for G&J’s crushing and screening operations came at the recommendation of Dale Larmour, sales representative for Ohio Crushing and Screening.

G&J owner, Chad Jordan was looking for a way to begin mining his own high quality aggregate for his paving company operation, from the nearby sand and gravel deposits located on his Ross County, Ohio facility. He was also looking for a way to recycle the concrete and asphalt material that he had been removing from paving job sites that he had contracted to resurface, and needed equipment that was capable of fulfilling both kinds of crushing and screening. After a lengthy search of the numerous brands of equipment that are available to businesses like his, Jordan chose to go with Ohio Crushing and Screening and the Terex Finlay crusher and screen plant.

According to Gerry Salisbury, co-owner of Ohio Crushing and Screening, G&J started mining earlier this year and was using a used crusher and screen plant to process their material. They were having difficulty getting their sand and aggregate clean and up to the specs they needed for the mix designs at the asphalt plant, the primary recipient of the Materials side of their business. That is when Jordan began looking for new equipment. He wanted to be able to take advantage of the sandstone deposits that make up his quarry operation and he wanted to crush the aggregate to the shape they needed for high quality, DOT mix designs. So he chose the Terex Finlay I-110 tracked impact crusher.

Salisbury said that Jordan likes the ability to move the crusher and screen plant around the yard or to jobsites where on the job crushing is preferred. By being able to crush recycled asphalt at one place in the yard and then move the crusher to another site to crush recycled concrete or virgin material from the quarry, is the kind of flexibility that Jordan was looking for when he made his decision. The same is true for the tracked, 684 Supertrak screen plant.

When aggregate plant supervisor Rob Smith needs to screen material before he crushes it, or if he chooses to screen the material after it comes out of the crusher, just a few simple moves of the equipment rearranges the plant layout to meet their needs. Smith can build stockpiles of various sizes of material that include 8’s, 57’s, sand and other sizes when needed. If he chooses to run the material through G&J’s wash plant, he simply discharges the crusher or screen plant onto a conveyor that runs the material over a wet, Gator two-deck screen, with washed sand coming out of a Gator Sand Screw, conveyed to a nearby stockpile. That gives them 3 spec products plus overs that are returned to the crusher for additional processing.

Larmour said that because of the improved quality of the material that now comes from the G&J aggregate plant, Jordan is able to increase his customer base by selling more material to local contractors who are looking for this kind of product. Additionally, Batch Plant operator Ryan Woodruff is able to produce higher quality asphalt material from their drum plant because of the improved angular material that the I-110 impactor produces.

“About 30 percent of G&J’s material goes to Ohio DOT projects in some form,” said Larmour. “Now they are able to blend virgin material with recycled concrete in a predetermined ratio, to give them a quality product. The addition of this new crushing and screening equipment has given G&J Paving & Materials a bright future not only with their paving business, but in the quality aggregate and sand market as well. For more information on G&J Paving & Materials, phone 740-773-6458.