What happens in a limestone quarry?
The quarry activities, processes and key products are shown in Figure 3. The layout will vary from quarry to quarry and depends on the range of products made. Figure 3: Activities, processes and key products of a typical limestone quarry ©NSC This diagram is also available as a PDF file (click to download). (See copyright note at the end of the page). Over a million tonnes of limestone are taken from the RQH quarry every year. Explosives are used to blast the rock from the quarry face. The quarry face is 2 km long and 30 m high. The rock is loaded onto huge lorries (‘dumpers’) and taken for crushing and washing. Large mechanical sieves (called screens) are used for sorting it into pieces of different sizes. Some of the limestone is processed on the quarry site. It is used to make other things such as cement and lime (also known as quicklime). Part is carried away by rail or road to customers who use limestone itself. Some of the limestone is used for aggregate. Aggregate is the term fo
