Flexco is pleased to announce the successful deployment of its Flexco Elevate® belt rip detection system at Cemex UK‘s Dove Holes Quarry in the United Kingdom.
In April 2025, the system detected a critical belt rip event and stopped the conveyor within 12 metres, preventing what would have been a complete belt failure and weeks of unplanned downtime.
The quarry produces approximately five million tpy of limestone aggregate , distributed throughout the UK by rail and road. With downtime costs reaching £20 000 per hour and typical belt rip repairs requiring up to 48 hours, a single major failure can result in losses exceeding £700 000.
After experiencing multiple belt failures in quick succession, Cemex worked with its belt distributor to evaluate predictive monitoring solutions. The team selected Flexco Elevate®, a belt rip detection system that provides continuous monitoring and automatic conveyor shutdown when damage is detected.
In April 2025, a steel plate fell from the primary crusher onto the conveyor belt below. The Elevate system immediately detected the damage and stopped the belt within 12 metres. Without the detection system in place, the belt would have been destroyed, resulting in several weeks of downtime. Following this incident, Cemex has expanded the Elevate system to additional conveyors across the facility.
"When the rip detector detected the issue, the belt stopped, which gave the opportunity for the maintenance team to go and inspect the belt," said Jamie Shaw, Assistant Quarry Manager at Cemex Dove Holes. "If we didn't have Elevate installed on our conveyor, the conveyor would have ripped completely in half ... [The system] paid for itself."
Michael Craven, Assistant Quarry Manager at Cemex Dove Holes, added: "We'd had Elevate installed for a few months. I don't think the site had total confidence in it because we'd not had an event, but then in April 2025, we did have a critical event." Craven continued, “Elevate managed to stop the conveyor within 12 metres. If Elevate wasn't in place that day, then we would have certainly lost all of the conveyor."
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