CDE Sand Wash Plant to More Than Quadruple Production for J. Lee Milligan

Mon May 13, 2024
CDE

From hauling dirt to processing it, excavating contractor J. Lee Milligan has invested in a new CDE EvoWash sand washing plant that is expected to more than quadruple processing volumes at the firm's production facility in Amarillo, Texas.

Founded in 1937 with a single truck and a contract to haul dirt for $1.25 per hour on New Mexico's Conchas Dam project, J. Lee Milligan has grown to become one of the largest heavy highway construction firms operating in the panhandle and South Plains of Texas today.

Its latest investment, a first with washing experts CDE, will lead to the commissioning of a new 200 tph dual pass EvoWash this summer. The plant will replace an existing 40 tph traditional sand screw.

Last fall, CDE launched a campaign to enable operators to trade in their old, less efficient sand screws. With data from USGS (United States Geological Society) indicating that in some of the most densely populated urban centers across the United States demand for sand and gravel reserves often outstrips supply, CDE launched the campaign to support natural sand producers to adopt modern technological solutions to drive efficiency across their operations.

Chris Brannon, aggregates superintendent at J. Lee Milligan, said, "We're losing quite a lot of material to the pond, meaning we're having to work harder for longer to meet our production targets. With this new CDE plant we'll be able to vastly increase the rate of production and capture the fine material we're missing to offer a healthy boost to our bottom line."

Ronan Duffy, business development manager at CDE, added, "Though sand resources in the Texas area are in abundance, it still makes good business sense to process that material as efficiently as possible. Powered by CDE hydrocyclone technology, J. Lee Milligan will benefit from excellent control of cut points to increase in-spec sand recovery with their new EvoWash. This flexibility means the business will be able to respond to the needs of customers and the market in an agile way to really accelerate the return on their investment."

A compact, modular sand washing system, the EvoWash screens and separates the smaller sand and gravel fractions through an integrated high-frequency dewatering screen, sump and hydrocyclones which provide unrivaled control of silt cut points to eliminate the loss of quality fine material with significant commercial value to settling ponds.

Producers can still take advantage of CDE's trade-in deal by swapping their sand screw for CDE's EvoWash.

For more information, visit cdegroup.com/swapyourscrew.