Methods for extracting quarry sand. Extraction methods and their impact on sand quality Locations of sand extraction in our region

Sand mining in a quarry has many nuances. Natural sand, mined in natural conditions, is a rock with a loose structure. The mixture may include various grains of natural minerals. Different types of sand are successfully used for construction. In most cases, river or quarry is used, but the second type is in great demand due to its low price and good properties. To purchase the necessary high-quality material for construction, you will need to study all the main characteristics and types of quarry sand. And to find out how to open a sand mining business, you will need to familiarize yourself with the possible expenses and the list of necessary documents.

The main property of sand extracted from quarries is the absence of various impurities, as well as its maximum purity.

There are also a number of unchanged characteristics:

1. The fraction can vary in size from 1.5 to 5 mm.
2. Sand contains a small amount of dust, clay, and other impurities. This figure does not exceed 0.03%. If the value is exceeded, the quality of the composition deteriorates greatly and the material becomes unsuitable for construction needs.
3. The density of sand is 1.6 grams per cubic centimeter.

These are the main characteristics of quarry sand that you should pay special attention to when purchasing. Even minor changes can lead to major changes in the properties of the composition.

Quarry sand is divided into fine, coarse and medium fractions. This parameter should also be clarified upon purchase, since the diameter of the sand grains is very important during construction and mixing of cement composition.

The shades of the material can also vary greatly from each other and have a brown or amber-yellow color - depending on the quarry being mined, as well as the location of the deposit. This parameter must be taken into account only in the case of decorative sand treatment of some surface. During construction, the color indicator does not matter.

Varieties

Quarry sand is a unique material for construction needs, which can also be successfully used in industry and the national economy. Arrangement of a private territory or construction of a road surface - the material is of key importance in these processes. And this explains the increased demand for sand from the quarry.

Since mining sites can be located at a considerable distance from each other, the composition of the resulting material varies. For this reason, each type of sand has a different structure, composition, and grain size. To find out the final properties of sand, it is also necessary to study the methods of its extraction:

1. Screening.
2. Washing.
3. Open method.

All this will directly affect the type of material obtained.

According to the processing method that is used after obtaining the material, sand is divided into several varieties.

Alluvial

Alluvial sand is mined in quarries and other deposits using hydromechanical equipment. Using this technology, sand is obtained as clean as possible; it does not contain various impurities and other components harmful to the characteristics.

The equipment used makes it possible to immediately remove all unnecessary components during mining by leaching. That is why the method got its name - alluvial. This type of sand is the most appropriate for the production of bricks and concrete, and it is also often used in the construction of various types of premises, reinforced concrete products, and road construction.

Seeded

The name of the method speaks for itself. Screened sand is extracted using technical-mechanical screening, as a result of which the material is separated from large stones and particles. This method is considered quite simple. As a result, sand is used for making plaster or cement mortars, as well as for pouring cement.

This technique is also often used on private properties to separate large particles from the underlying sand material.

Sandy

Sandy sand is an unrefined mixture obtained from quarries. After mining, various components (impurities) remain in the sand, which are not removed during the process. The price for the material is the lowest, but the scope of use is limited, and therefore the material is not so widespread. Sand is used to fill the trench and level the terrain on the site. This variety is not suitable for more serious construction operations, since additional impurities greatly impair the characteristics.

Features of the mining process

The most popular is the open-pit mining method, when construction companies use bulldozers, excavators and other similar equipment. This method is the cheapest, but the disadvantage is that sand is not useful for all types of work.

Quarry sand mined in this way is mined in the upper layers of the soil, and therefore miners use the method of opening the top layer, and sometimes even explosives. The last nuance makes the business of extracting building materials dangerous.

There are times when the quarry is flooded with water. This situation should not stop miners, and special equipment has been developed to solve the problem. In this case, a dredging device is used, which is a powerful pump with which sand is extracted from the depths. Stability equipment is secured with anchors and powerful cables. You can also place it on board a specially equipped vessel. The sand that is sucked into the device is called pulp - it passes through the pulp channel, which is designed to filter out various harmful particles and impurities.

The important point is that after this process, the water returns to the quarry, and therefore there can be no talk of any drying. This mining method does not harm the environment. This is a description of the hydromechanized method.

There are also other cases when more specific equipment is used. It is not used regularly. For example, builders can use special sieves to sift out large stones and other particles. Using this method, it takes much longer to extract sand - this is the reason for its unpopularity. An ordinary metal mesh is also used, through which the sand is sifted by the hands of workers.

When the development of a new quarry begins, construction companies prepare all calculations and document them, and also coordinate their activities with the state. Without the necessary official papers, it is impossible to obtain permission to mine sand.

Areas of application

Since quarry sand is of good quality and complies with certain GOST standards, it is often used in construction, decoration and agriculture. Sand is especially often used for making concrete and bricks, as well as for the construction of residential buildings and roads.

Alluvial sand, which has a coarse fraction, has gained great popularity in the production of a good type of concrete, as well as in the creation of reinforced concrete structures.

Quarrying sand is in demand as the materials are often used to construct masonry, paving slabs and street curbs.

Since some types of sand do not contain impurities, they have good strength and will last for many years. For this reason, it is so important to study all the provided documentation and GOSTs before purchasing, otherwise there is a risk of purchasing low-quality material that will quickly fail.

For decorative purposes, sand is used in summer cottages or private buildings, and it is also used in children's playgrounds.

Sand mining business plan

Since sand mining in a quarry is a popular activity, many entrepreneurs want to start their own business with this activity. But extracting sand on an industrial scale is not an easy task. To open such a business, you need to have specific knowledge and also spend a lot of money. It is advisable to draw up a business plan in advance in order to calculate all the costs and know how to properly develop a quarry for sand extraction.

Registration of sand mining activities

To start your own business, you need to know how to register a quarry, and then register the enterprise in accordance with the laws of the Russian Federation. It is advisable to use an LLC based on the simplified tax system.

After this, the person receives the right to use the chosen quarry, according to the license. The license period will be approximately 5 years or slightly less, and after that the permit will need to be renewed.

Financial plan

To open a business, you need to take into account that large expenses will be required, including:

1. Buying an excavator. The cost will be approximately 1.5 million rubles.
2. A front loader costs about the same amount.
3. A dump truck costs 2.5 million rubles. The load capacity should be 18,000 kg.
4. A trailer for transporting the received material – 500,000 rubles.
5. Walkie-talkies for workers worth 25,000 rubles.
6. One fire shield – 8,000 rubles.
7. Tanks used for filling fuel with a volume of 200 liters cost 28,000 rubles.
8. Tank for filling oil - 9000 rubles.
9. One heater fueled with diesel fuel. Cost – 4000 rubles.
10. Gas stove – 7,000 rubles.
11. Gas cylinder – 3000 rubles.
12. A tank intended for filling drinking water – 5,000 rubles.
13. A generator installed on a trailer filled with diesel fuel costs 350,000 rubles.
14. Desks for workers – 4,000 rubles.
15. Chairs for workers – 2000 rubles.
16. Refrigerator – 5000 rubles.

You will also need to spend additional money on liquids to refill the equipment. A business plan is used to calculate costs.

From all this we can conclude that the total cost will be approximately 10 million rubles.

Let me say right away that this business is suitable for entrepreneurs in those cities where there are more or less large rivers with a sandy bottom. There are two options for starting a business: rent a dredging machine (to try how things go) - this is approximately 20-25 thousand rubles of rent per month. Or buy it - approximately 800 thousand - 1 million rubles at once.

Well, registering as an individual entrepreneur, paying taxes, hiring dredging machine operators, etc. Its productivity is approximately 15-20 machines of sand per day. Pure river sand sells very well, because it is needed both in construction and in household farming. Having “recaptured” the initial expenses, you can gradually reach a level of net income of up to 100,000 rubles per month. What do you think?

Opinions on this matter from our users

This is the first time I’ve heard of this, that sand from the bottom of the river is sold, and why is such sand worse than usual? The business is certainly interesting, but I definitely wouldn’t do something like this, even as a last resort, something tells me that nothing profitable will come of it.

roman-maurinio, this idea was no less surprising to me than it was to you. If we take into account that the sand is not golden, then it will need to be transported by KAMAZ trucks, that is, huge financial investments will be required for equipment. In addition, all kinds of ecologists, representatives of local authorities and others are unlikely to approve of such excavations - sand is taken out, the banks are washed away, mud goes downstream (purely assumptions, I don’t understand this technology). You'll still have to pay kickbacks.
The idea is definitely not for one person. We need to involve partners and investors.

And I was also surprised, because compared to ordinary sand from quarries, it won’t be possible to load it right away, you still need time and equipment to dry it, and then look for transport, in general, it would be stupid to start with that.

So, here they have already started calling the working (that is, implemented!) idea stupid, which, in general, is forgivable for people who do not live in the city on the Volga. To me, as a person who lived in Astrakhan for 20 years, the idea does not seem stupid. Firstly, river sand (mined from the bottom) is clean and fine. Secondly, a plot of land with an area of ​​6 acres (the size of a typical dacha) is sufficient for drying it, and for transportation you need two two-axle trucks (which are also rented in the region). The authorities of a city or region are themselves interested in carrying out dredging work, therefore, as practice shows, they not only do not create obstacles and do not demand bribes, but are also ready to pay for such work!

Of course, the business idea is interesting for me personally, since this is the first time I’ve heard about such an idea. It seems that there is nothing complicated here, but a very large investment in equipment is needed, since I know that in order to extract sand in this way, you need expensive modern equipment.

Ostrovitjanin
What is the positive side of the fact that sand is mined from the day of the river? The very first thing that just popped up for me was that environmentalists would really have their brains soaring, but otherwise I think there won’t be any problems. I toured the facilities under construction, collected orders and started doing business. I think if you rent all the equipment, the costs won’t be that big.

The main advantage of river sand is that it is clean and has a more or less uniform consistency. There is a lot of it there, and so much is still applied every year that dredging can be carried out annually, “fishing” for up to 1000 cars of sand for sale! Can you imagine how good this money is? Plus, since the state has farmed out dredging to private owners, municipalities are willing to pay for this type of work. It turns out there are two sources of income at once. Of course, people will have to hire 8-10 people, but the cost of their salaries will amount to 30 percent of the net profit of the owner or tenant of the dredger!

But the main disadvantage is that river sand is of low quality, fine, and demand is gradually shifting towards a higher quality product - alluvial quarry sand, which is more effective in the production of concrete, and its use in the production of asphalt allows saving on expensive chemical additives. So this business, in my opinion, has little prospects.

We don’t have large sand quarries in our region, and importing from neighboring regions is very expensive, so people prefer to buy river sand for household needs. It may indeed be smaller, but the price is not bad for the end consumer!

For what economic needs does the population buy river sand? Personally, I have never bought sand before, and I don’t even understand why the population might need it. if you are building something, you need to order special sand, obviously river sand is not suitable for construction, you need special sand. Well, I’m not a pro in these matters, that’s why I’m asking.

Construction work - masonry, screed, plastering. The downside of fine sand is that it shrinks quickly when making concrete mortar. However, builders usually find a way out - they add a little soap solution or shampoo to the solution. Still, coarse sand is best for such work.

Apparently you are a builder? But I also worked at a construction site, and I have never seen anything like this. Well, okay, maybe the sand wasn’t just from the river, but high-quality quarry sand. But still, it is no easier to order normal sand than river sand, which is not very suitable for construction work. Is it really that much more expensive than the career one?

I think that you can, of course, sell sand from the river, but is this allowed by nature conservation in Russia? I think no. I think there will be demand, not all builders use high-quality materials in construction, my husband works in construction, and he says such things that you are surprised that half the country has not collapsed.

Well, how is it not allowed? And then how are houses built in Russia? After all, this sand is needed for cement, and embankments are also made for the foundation if the ground is soft and the house may sag in the future. Everything is allowed in Russia.

It is allowed and even encouraged as long as you are doing dredging that is beneficial to the river. As for the low quality: I know firsthand that river sand is widely used in construction, and its quality is satisfactory for the majority of clients. I repeat, in a number of regions of Russia, quarry sand will cost almost twice as much as river sand, and few people will purchase it for construction!

In our country, on the contrary, they carry sand and pour it onto the seashore, because over time the sand is washed with water and leaves. So they prepare the beaches for the season in this way, bringing sand and pouring it onto the shore. Maybe they should be advised to bring fine sand from Astrakhan, otherwise it’s unknown where they’re bringing it to the Odessa beach, maybe from a neighboring beach.

Wow, I don’t know, I don’t understand anything about this, this is definitely not my topic, probably, this is something new and unrecognized for me. Well, I wonder where you came up with the amount of 100,000 per month in net earnings? How much does one machine of sand cost you?

Ostrovitjanin,
No, well, the fact is that a certain amount can be exported from certain zones. Here in our region, in the Belorechensky district, they showed on TV that they were so carried away by this matter that people had nowhere to go, they dug everything so much that they formed huge holes and floods, entire villages were suffering. So my point is, how controlled is it all? That is, this business is very often conducted without following the rules.

Tatyana, I think that even the word is often an understatement, in most cases it is not conducted according to the rules, everyone would like to grab more jackpots, but the fact that people have no place to swim, or they violate something else, this doesn’t bother almost anyone .

Experts in the construction field assure that quarry sand is an almost universal material that is used in the construction of buildings and structures, roads and railways, landscape design, etc. As the name implies, this building material is mined in quarries that are scattered throughout territory of Russia, such huge deposits of sand are located in our country. At the same time, sand extracted from various quarries has its own specific qualities, due to which the feasibility of its use for specific purposes is determined. Quarry sand is extracted by open pit mining, sifting 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, which narrow its scope of application. This is for backfilling trenches, ditches and pits, as well as as backfill during the construction of foundations of buildings and structures. As for seeded and washed quarry sand, there are significantly fewer impurities in it, so the scope of its use is much wider than that of sand that is not processed after mining.

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

Washed sand is mined in quarries by leaching, so the presence of foreign inclusions in its composition is negligible. The material is extracted hydromechanically from the watered layers of 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 its scope. Washed sand is used for the production of bricks and concrete, as well as products made from them. In addition, such clean sand is used to prepare dry construction mixtures and plastering solutions. The cost of quarry washed sand is higher than sand that has been screened after mining. 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 popular that you can buy it 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 railway transport, which is rented by construction companies that daily need large volumes of washed quarry sand. And the last method of delivery is by water by river or sea transport, which is used where there is no road or rail communication.

Sand is a necessary building material used in all construction work. Sand of natural origin is mined in quarries. These are either sandy or sand-granite mining sites.

According to the conditions of the deposits, sand deposits, like other minerals, are divided into the following types of quarries:

Kosogorny.

Flat.

A quarry is considered to be sloped, which is located on the slope of a hill. They are almost always located high in the mountains and are located above transport junctions and the surrounding area. These quarries are always dry type.

In flat-type quarries, sand deposits are located below the earth's surface or, in some situations, even below the groundwater level. These quarries can be of both dry and watered types.

Depending on the method of sand development, quarries are either drained using drains, drains, or watered for the subsequent extraction of this building material.

In water-type quarries, this material is extracted from river beds, lakes and other types of reservoirs.

Sand mining carried out in two development methods:

Open.

Underwater.

Open pit mining is the most common. For such mining, excavators, scrapers, dump trucks, overhead cable cars and other mechanisms are used.

In water-type quarries, excavators are used - dredgers, draglines, and rope scrapers.

Sand extraction occurs through explosions. Such work makes it possible to separate rock from rock masses by grinding and crushing to the required size.

Sand deposits are often hidden under a layer of soil, clay and other rocks. These layers are called overburden. The ratio of the layer volume to the volume of minerals is the stripping ratio.

Stripping operations are carried out in order to avoid additional contamination of sand with various impurities.

In addition to the above methods of sand development, there is the most productive extraction method - hydromechanical.

This method is used not only when extracting sand from the bottoms of rivers or other types of reservoirs, but also in flooded plain-type quarries.

Sand deposits that are located above the water level can be developed using hydraulic monitors. They are tubular barrels with a conical profile and a thin nozzle at the end. The liquid supplied by pumping stations from nearby reservoirs is released through a hydraulic monitor in a very dense stream with significant pressure.

Downhole hydraulic monitors erode sand deposits. The pulp thus formed flows by gravity into hydraulic dumps, if the required slope is provided. In other situations, sand is transported by dredgers through special pipelines.

Such mechanisms, which are used in mining, are capable of crushing even very hard rocks with their water jet. Very little pressure is enough to develop sand.

In the modern world, the construction of buildings, from small private houses to colossal skyscrapers, has long been put on stream. Technologies make it possible to build houses quickly and efficiently, providing all of humanity with personal housing, a workplace, or simply a building for entertainment. But, no matter how far the current progress has gone, one of the main components for construction still remains 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 on children's playgrounds. Naturally, there is enough of it on the beaches. But where does sand come from in the first place? How and where is it mined? Let's look at the answers to these questions in our article.

What is sand

Sand is a loose sedimentary rock that 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 consists almost entirely 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 be radioactive, so their use for industrial and domestic needs is dangerous.

Differences by location

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

Another thing is river sand. Based on the name, it is mined in rivers, taking it from the bottom. The quality of this sand is noticeably different - there are no large inclusions of unnecessary elements or clay admixtures.

Sand extraction methods

In the vast majority of cases, sand extraction occurs 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 as much equipment.

Before the start of open-pit sand mining, stripping operations are carried out at the mining site. Simply put, the top layer of 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 laid paths for the equipment, the mining process begins. One way or another, the resulting raw materials cannot be called high-quality, therefore the resulting sand must also be cleaned from various impurities in different ways.

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

Thus, the second method not only does not harm the environment (the water is returned to the river, no drainage), but also allows you to obtain sand of higher quality. The only disadvantages of this method are its slower speed compared to the first one, as well as its higher cost.

If you are planning to buy sand for your own purposes, carefully study the documents for your purchase. Pay special attention to GOST standards for 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, a titanic volume of sand along with gravel is used per year - 40 billion tons per year. In Russia itself, the Voronezh, Leningrad, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara and Smolensk regions can boast of the most voluminous sand deposits. Specifically, sea and river types of sand are found in the Azov Sea, near the Gulf of Finland, Neva, and also in the Leningrad region.

The Eganovskoye deposit, located near the Ramenskoye station, is interesting because quartz sands are being fished there.

Hundreds of vehicles, as well as railway trains, daily move thousands of tons of sand across the country from sand pits and river beds to factories, industrial sites and other “thirsty” people.

Application of sand

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