It’s not often that the work our equipment does is centered on a global stage, but for a brief period this July and August during the Summer Olympics, Derrick’s fine screening earned a participation medal in Beach Volleyball.
Not really, but our partners at Sibelco Group used Derrick’s Stack Sizer® technology to process high-quality sand that met the stringent standards required for Olympic play. Nearly 2000 tons of naturally weathered sand was spread across the competition and warm-up courts featured in Champ-de-Mars Park at the foot of the iconic Eiffel Tower in Paris, France.
Sibelco is a world-leading global material solutions provider, mining, processing, and selling industrial minerals–like fine and coarse sands–worldwide. They’re no stranger to the Olympics either, having supplied sand for the games in Athens (2004) and London (2012).
For this year’s Games, our Stack Sizer fine particle screening machine was used to source and screen nearly 2,000 tons of naturally-weathered sand from the MontGru site, located just 100km from the venue at the Eiffel Tower, marking the FIVB and Paris 2024’s commitment to sustainable operations.
Per FIVB’s site, “The sand has been selected using stringent criteria and standards from the FIVB. The chosen material is naturally weathered, rounded, and free of potentially harmful materials such as shells and coral. Additionally, the sand’s colour, with a striking brown-sugar tone, creates a picturesque beach oasis in the city centre and ensures athletes can play confidently on a non-glaring surface as they compete in the memorable venue.
Grand Paris Express
Our work in Paris goes back a lot further (and deeper) than that, though.
Over the last decade, the Grand Paris Express project has been working to add 200 kilometers of new tracks and 68 new metro stations. Our Underground Construction division has been working closely with our distributor in the region, Solid Control SAS, to supply the project with shakers, screens, and centrifuges to keep construction on track to reach its 2030 completion date.
The reputation of Derrick’s fine separation equipment is known by mining operators worldwide, but these two projects illustrate just how versatile our technology is. In one project, our screens were used to separate sand so fine it meets the strict quality demands of the Olympic committee. In another, our shakers and centrifuges assist a massive underground excavation project to expand one of the largest metro systems in the world.
Projects like these two in Paris are made possible around the world every day by Derrick’s fine screening and engineering experts. Mines, rigs, and job sites worldwide depend on our machines and screens to deliver solutions to the most challenging separation challenges.
Header image sourced from Grindstone Media Group.
