MicroLance

Saving time for Daracon

The MicroLance portable moisture meter from Hydramotion Ltd is proving its worth for Australian quarrying firm Daracon Quarries.

Daracon Quarries is an integral part of the Daracon Group, a family business wholly owned by directors David and Susan Mingay. The group now employs over 500 people and is a major provider of civil engineering, construction and related services in the region of Newcastle, New South Wales.  Established in 1987, Daracon Quarries currently operates three gravel quarries using the latest technology in mobile track-mounted crushing and screening plants as well as two mobile Aran pugmills for the stabilising or wetmixing of road-base material.

Daracon Quarries needed a quick and accurate way of measuring the moisture content of bound pavement material (a blend of quarried aggregate and cementitious binding agents such as fly ash and lime).  The MicroLance provided the solution.

“It saves us a lot of time,” commented Bob Murphy, Systems Coordinator for Daracon.  “Prior to using the MicroLance we had to use an oven or hotplate on site at the pugmill, or use a nuclear density/moisture gauge and then carry out confirmatory tests back at the laboratory.  With the MicroLance, we are able to ascertain immediately what the moisture content is of a particular product type.”