Morocco’s largest quarry, CCGT Granulats, lies in a rural location between the cities of Serat and Rabat. Operations there are on the rise, as demand for aggregates in the country booms to meet the needs of the government’s highway expansion plan. In recent months, output at the Granulats facility has risen to 5,000 m3 of aggregates per day.
CCGT owns the landmark quarry, together with several others in the country, and has been expanding its equipment fleet to help with the growing workload. Among the machines added in the past year are four SDLG units from Shandong Lingong Construction Machinery Co., Ltd. (known as Lingong). Three machines are at the Granulats location and one is at its Concentrium facility close to Marrakesh.
The first machine on site at Granulats was a 5 t lift capacity LG958 wheeled loader, which arrived just 12 months ago. The quarry owners were so impressed with the SDLG machine, particularly the fuel efficiency and product support from local dealer SBMH, that a further wheeled loader, a 7 t lift capacity LG978, plus a 30 t rated LG6300E excavator, were added.
Youseff Tazi, the owner of CCGT, says the company was delighted with the output and performance of the SDLG units.
“This is our first experience of using a Chinese brand at our facilities, as most of our other equipment is from established Western brands,” he says. “But we were pleased with the performance of the first wheeled loader, and when we took the second wheeled loader and the excavators we were even more pleased.”
The machines were all supplied through SBMH, SDLG’s exclusive dealer for Morocco. The company is contracted to provide full service support for each machine and this reassuring level of backup was a major factor in CCGT’s decision to invest.
Both the loaders work in the final phase of the quarry, loading the trucks for export. The pair have Weichai engines, the LG958 a 162 kW unit and the LG978 a 220 kW unit, although as the LG978 is a new machine with a newer engine, CCGT is reporting equivalent levels of fuel efficiency on both loaders. Vehicle weight for the LG958 is 16.6 t, while the LG978 weighs 23.5 t. Maximum breakout force is 168 kN on the smaller unit, and 216 kN on the larger, while bucket capacities are 3 m3 and 4.2 m3 respectively.
The excavator is employed filling trucks which transfer materials to the crusher. This duty cycle work exerts high levels of work pressure on the LG6300E, but so far the unit has been more than equal to the task. Bucket capacity is 1.4 m3 on the excavator and breakout force is 198 kN. The 6.2 m standard boom can reach out to 10.49 m and dig down to 7.32 m. The maximum dumping height is 7.05 m. Power for the unit comes from a 6 cylinder Dalian Deutz engine rated at 149 kW at 2,000 rpm.
Said Boudali, General Manager of SBMH, says providing superior service was central to building success for the SDLG brand in Morocco.
“The philosophy of our company is to offer reliable and productive equipment at a competitive price and with SDLG machines we get that,” he says. “But we also understand that fast and responsive customer service is crucial to our success. So we have invested in a significant stock of spare parts and consumables at our facility plus technicians capable of reaching all areas of the country in a matter of hours. That level of support gives our customers the confidence to invest and, as with CCGT, once they see the great levels of productivity and value that SDLG machines offer they are happy to add more.”
