Extraction of quarry sand with an excavator. Blog – Sand mining in Russia – where and how is sand mined?! Dry quarry method

AT modern world the construction of buildings, from small private houses to colossal skyscrapers, has long been put on stream. Technology allows you to build houses quickly and efficiently, providing personal housing, a workplace or just a building for entertainment for all of humanity. But, no matter how far current progress has gone, one of the main components for construction is still the most common sand.

Yes, it cannot be said that this is a rare material. You can meet him just walking down the street. Can be seen in playgrounds. Naturally, it is enough on the beaches. But where does the sand come from in the first place? How and where is it mined? Consider in our article the answers to these questions.

What is sand

Sand is a loose sedimentary rock, which is the most popular non-ore building material. The size of one grain of sand varies from 0.16 to 5 mm. This material is formed during the destruction of rocks. Most often, sand is almost entirely composed of a substance called silicon dioxide (chemical formula - SiO 2). It is also called silica. There are white, yellow and even black sands. The latter, by the way, may differ in radioactivity, so their use is dangerous for industrial and domestic needs.

Differences by place of extraction

In terms of large-scale sand mining locations, there are two main types - river and quarry. Quarry sand is mined in quarries, and even though mining is carried out in really large volumes, such raw materials cannot boast of a special initial quality.

Another thing is river sand. Based on the name, it is mined in rivers, getting it from the bottom. The quality of this sand is noticeably different - there are no large inclusions of extra elements and clay impurities.

Sand mining methods

In the vast majority of cases, sand is mined in one of two ways. In the case of quarry sand, an open method is used. By the way, it is cheaper than the second one and does not require much equipment.

Before sand mining open way stripping operations are carried out at the mining site. Simply put, the top layer of the earth is simply removed in order to minimize unnecessary impurities in the composition of the extracted raw materials. The work is carried out thanks to a scraper and a bulldozer. Then, having completed the trenches and paved the way for the equipment, the mining process begins. One way or another, but the resulting raw materials cannot be called high-quality, because the resulting sand is also subject to purification from various impurities in different ways.

The second way is hydromechanical. It is used during the extraction of sand from river beds. For implementation this method a pontoon or a specially equipped vessel is required. They are necessary so that anchors and cables with mining equipment are securely fixed on the surface of the river. The algorithm is as follows: down into the water, a powerful pump is lowered along with a loosening device. The device “beats up” the treated surface, and the pump, in turn, sucks the pulp (a combination of sand and water) into the hydraulic dumps. There, sand is already filtered from excess impurities, and water flows back into the river.

Thus, the second method not only does not harm environment(after all, the water is returned to the river, no drainage), but it also allows you to get sand of a higher quality. The only downsides this method are its slower speed compared to the former, as well as its higher cost.

If you plan to buy sand for your own purposes, carefully study the documents for your purchase. Special attention give GOSTs sand. Not every one of them is suitable for construction, or vice versa - for decorative work.

Sand mining in Russia

In the world, unlike minerals, just a titanic amount of sand is used per year along with gravel - 40 billion tons per year. In Russia itself, the Voronezh, Leningrad, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara and Smolensk regions can boast the most voluminous sand deposits. Specifically, sea and river types of sand are found in the Azov region, near the Gulf of Finland, the Neva, and also in the Leningrad region.

The Eganovskoye deposit, located not far from the Ramenskoye station, is interesting because quartz sands are being mined there.

Hundreds of vehicles, as well as trains, move thousands of tons of sand around the country every day from sand pits and river channels to factories, industrial sites and other “thirsty” people.

Sand application

Sand is a very important building material. Therefore, the extraction of construction sand is necessary to create such things as cement, bricks, plaster, concrete. It is also used as an abrasive material for surface treatment. Sand is a fundamental element for the glass industry, because it is thanks to silica that we have glass in the windows and mirrors on the walls. Sand is also used in its pure form to create various embankments, in the construction of roads and as a decorative element for decorating the facades of private houses, summer cottages, playgrounds and as a “cover” for artificial beaches.

Specialists in the construction industry assure that quarry sand is practically universal material, which is used in the construction of buildings and structures, automobile and railways, landscape design etc. As the name implies, this building material is mined in quarries that are scattered throughout Russia, such huge sand deposits are located in our country. At the same time, the sand mined in various quarries has its own specific qualities, due to which the expediency of its use for specific purposes is determined. Quarry sand is mined in an open way, by sieving or washing, and in some cases, it also undergoes subsequent processing. When , the material is immediately shipped to consumers by road, rail or river (sea) transport. And since it does not undergo processing, the composition of such sand includes a large number of various impurities that narrow the scope of its application. Such for backfilling trenches, pits and pits, as well as backfilling in the construction of foundations for buildings and structures. As for seeded and washed quarry sand, there are much less impurities in it, therefore the scope of its use is much wider than that of sand that does not undergo processing after extraction.

Seeded quarry sand is mined in an open way, after which it is sifted on special equipment to rid the material of large inclusions and various impurities. The screening process itself is quite simple, because it is carried out using, so to speak, standard equipment, which is quite common in the industry. Standard sieving machines are a receiving hopper and a so-called screen with a removable mesh, replacing which, you can adjust the size of the sand grains in a particular batch of sand. Seeded quarry sand is used in foundation and plastering works, creating mortars for masonry, road works and landscaping, as well as for backfilling pits, pits, trenches, etc. However, experts note that in the latter case, it is unprofitable to use seeded sand, for it is somewhat more expensive than a career one that has not undergone further processing. Delivery of such sand to consumers is possible immediately from the place of extraction, provided that the quarry has equipment for screening, or from sand storage sites at enterprises specializing in screening quarry sand. In the latter case, as a rule, the cost of sand is somewhat higher. This is due to the fact that an extra link in the form of an intermediary appears in the producer-consumer chain.

Washed sand is mined in quarries by washing out, therefore, the presence of foreign inclusions in its composition is negligible. The extraction of the material is carried out by hydromechanical method from the flooded layers of the deposits, which makes it possible to achieve high purity of sand, without the presence of clay and dusty particles, which significantly degrade the quality of the material and narrow the scope of its application. Washed sand is used for the production of bricks and concrete, as well as products from it. In addition, such clean sand is used to prepare dry building mixtures and plastering solutions. The cost of quarry washed sand is higher than that of sand that has been screened after extraction. This is due to the more complex process of its extraction and the high purity of the material. But even despite the relatively high cost of such sand, its popularity among consumers is growing every year, which directly affects the volume of washed sand production. Sand washed in quarries has become so in demand that it can be bought in St. Petersburg in batches of almost any size. The most common way to deliver such sand to consumers is by road. In second place in popularity is rail transport, which is rented by construction companies that need large volumes of washed quarry sand every day. And the last method of delivery is by water by river or sea transport, which is used where there is no road or rail connection.

The quarry is the main place where sand is mined. A quarry implies a place from which minerals are extracted, such as crushed stone, sand, gravel, shale, stone and other minerals. In addition, quarries produce large quantities of coal, limestone, gypsum, clay, china clay or kaolin, quartz sand, and more. Thus, the quarries are directly connected to the mineral processing plants. These include: concrete plants, plants for the production of asphalt and bituminous road materials, pipeline production, concrete block production, brick plants and others.

Two types of sand mining

As a rule, sand from a quarry is mined in an open way and underwater.

Open pit mining involves mining by removing the top layer of soil. The water method involves the extraction of sand from under water from rivers and reservoirs.

Underwater sand mining

From the bottom of the rivers and the reservoir, mining occurs with the help of special equipment, such as: dragline (single-bucket excavator with cable connection), excavators, dredger, scraper (pneumatic wheeled or caterpillar machine). In addition, it is necessary to provide a floating installation, such as a pontoon (watercraft for supporting weights on water), which can be both moved and fixed with an anchor and a pile and a cable that carries a pump and equipment.

Mining principle

Principle of operation and production:

• the nozzle on the neck of the pump sinks to the bottom of the river or reservoir, and the sand begins to be sucked into the pipe;
• with the help of a mechanical crusher, sand is crushed, if necessary;
• through a floating slurry pipeline (a mixture of water with sand that moves through the pipeline), the mass goes to the storage site;
• the next stage is the drying of the sand on the river bank, and the water from it again enters the river.

Sand collection devices

The sand intake from the water is also possible with the help of a hydraulic elevator. A hydraulic elevator is a device that allows you to draw water from a depth of up to 20 meters. Sand can also be obtained using a jet monitorlocated above the water level. Pressurized water is pumped into the pipe and sent to the shore.

Sand mining

Sand, which is mined in an open way, was formed as a result of the destruction of rocks. Sand lies both on the surface, under a layer of soil or clayey rocks, and under groundwater. Sand is usually mined with an excavator. Before sand is extracted from the quarry, the top layer of soil or clay is removed. If there is water in the quarry, then it is drained with the help of drainage systems. When extracting sand in a quarry, it is necessary to have powerful equipment, such as an excavator, dump truck, bulldozer and others. If the deposits of sand are located on a hill or in the mountains, then slope sand mining is carried out. Quarry sand due to the presence of impurities in it is usually washed, thus it is cleaned and enriched. Sand is also screened, dried and fractionated, which allows it to be used for water filtration and more.

You can buy profitable quartz fractionated sand from the manufacturer directly without intermediaries from us. The Euromineral Ukraine company is engaged in direct sale of quartz sand of various fractions at flexible prices. It is possible to purchase both wholesale and retail.