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1 i( : '{ . i ji| » Ala 52 Progress Edition of The Canadian Statesman, Wednesday, June 29,1988 St. Marys Cement Plant Opens Bowmanville Office in 1969 A view of St. Marys from inside the boundary gates. Rock pieces broken by the primary crusher fall in the distance. St. Marys has facilities on site toblastrock from the quariy, transport it to the crusher and to heat and process the rock to form cement. Things are rocking and rolling at St. Marys Cement in Bowmanville, Bowmanville, and they have been for almost twenty years. "Last year St. Marys celebrated its 75th anniversary anniversary in Canada,' said John Willan, employee employee relations supervisor. supervisor. St. Marys has been producing cement in Bowmanville since 1969 and in Ontario since 1912. The neighboring Darlington Darlington Nuclear Plant was supplied with special grade cement through Canadian Building Materials, Materials, a holding of St. -Marys. St. Marys Cement in Bowmanville spans 750 acres in the town's southwest southwest corner, near the lakeshore and Hwy 57. An entrance road, made of concrete, leads visitors visitors into the lot where signs often warn of dynamite dynamite blasts. The dynamite cuts through solid limestone, sending pieces flying. The rock pieces are transported across the St. Marys site where they are brought to a primary crusher via forty-tonne off road dump trucks. Rock is reduced to under under 20 mm in size or "minus eight inches"(as it is more commonly expressed) expressed) at the secondary crusher. Minus eight inch rocks then proceed to raw milling where they are ground with 30 per cent water. The resulting substance is called slur- ry. Slurry is stored in bins and mixed with compressed air before it reaches the kiln. The kiln "is the heart of operation," operation," said Mr. Willan. St. Marys has two kilns, one constructed in 1968 and the other in 1973. Both are 148 meters long, and blazing with a 1,400 degree Celcius white-hot fire. They operate operate at 80 rotations per hour, generating up to 1,000 tonnes of 'clinker a day. Clinker is the name given the rock once it has been melted in the kiln. The melted rock takes on new properties when it crystallizes, gaining its strength-bearing characteristics. characteristics. . The clinker is rapidly cooled in kiln number one, and planetary coolers coolers work on clinker coming from the number two kiln. A three-inch diameter clinker ball, three days after it's been out of the kiln, is still almost hot to the touch. Cooled clinker is stored in a 45,000 tonne beehive building on the St. Marys site, or in a 50.000 tonne clinker silo. The balls are mixed with five per cent gypsum to make the material extremely extremely fine. The last step to cement making is storage. Silos on the St. Marys* property property can store a maximum 70.000 tonnes of cement. The cement is then loaded loaded into trucks, rail cars on the site, or onto ships for water transport. The whole process, with the exception of quarry activities, is monitored in a control room by men like assistant assistant operator Doug Dickson, Dickson, an employee of 14 years. The operator, sometimes sometimes accompanied by a production foreman,, monitors each step of the cement making process on wall monitors and with a new computerized system that functions with a touch of the video screen. The new system will eventually replace the old one, but for the time being, intimate knowledge knowledge of both is necessary, said Mr. Willan. St. Marys Cement is a Canadian company, Toronto-based, Toronto-based, with branch plants in the United States, including Detroit Michigan. The first St. Marys plant was located in St. Marys Ontario. \\ it; . flit ! I MW : h Jfp'sl ; ; iSPRi il;--:.--. i|#Bi i iliill i ifi !§? ^ < m-i 'if-, 'v 4 St Marys Cement production foreman monitors the operational computer em installed in the. cement plant control room. One day the computer w,U re- A svstem msuaiieu in une uemcnu pimiu wi.u. v. * J .*"1 • j tvl„ place the manual monitoring system, but for now they work together, said John Willan. Car Won't Go? Call 623-5045 ALLIN COLE'S MOBILE AUTOMOTIVE SERVICE All work done by a licensed Class 'A' Mechanic at YOUR HOME or Place of Business. ALL PARTS and LABOR GUARANTEED ALL PARTS and LABOR STRICTLY CASH Phone 623-5045 BOWMANVILLE George Moore Electric Electrical Contractor Servicing: - Industries -Commercial - Residential - Farms Installations -- Repairs Maintenance -- Electric Heating FREE ESTIMATES or 24-Hour Emergency Service CALL 623-5901 Our work is guaranteed and Ontario Hydro Inspected