This huge quantity of Welsh slate is the residue of many years' quarrying at the site and Porthmadog Services' is processing the material to produce saleable products from what might otherwise have been a wasted asset.

Porthmadog Services was formed in 1982 by the Jones family and, operating nationally, provides demolition and site clearance services and crushing and screening contracting to the building, construction, quarrying and recycling industries; there are also plans at an advanced stage to start up a skip hire division to serve the region. Based near Porthmadog, Gwynedd, north Wales, they run a fleet of specialist demolition machines, tippers and low loaders, together with Powerscreen screening plants and Pegson crushers. The current long-term task at the Ffestiniog quarry is taking place in a designated "worked out" area of the site, as the quarry is still producing fine local slate products. Looking to process around 30,000 tonnes a year to fulfil a steady demand, Porthmadog Services is first crushing the slate and then screening and three-way splitting through the Chieftain1400 to produce MOT1 for sub-base, pipe bedding material and 40mm clean decorative slate which is predominantly destined for paths and driveways and, because of its attractive colour and form, mulch for plantbeds in both the private and public sectors. A by-product of the crushing and screening process is a 10mm- dust and this has the potential for use as an aggregate in non-structural readymixed concrete.

The Powerscreen Chieftain 1400 screening plant is a well-established mid-range machine with has a throughput potential of up to 500 tonnes per hour, depending on screen size and materials being processed. Particularly suited to the task facing Porthmadog Services, the screener features a hopper and grid with an angle adjustable tipping grid which is radio-controlled via double acting hydraulic rams. For the screen unit, an ingenious rubber-mounted outer bearing system eliminates the need for fine-tuning of the four-bearing box, thereby reducing downtime potential. The feed conveyor has variable speed facility for optimum control of materials feed. Stockpiling side conveyors have a folding mechanism which allows complete access to the power unit when in the transport position. Both have variable speed control and are hydraulically folding, which greatly reduces set-up time to typically around 15 minutes. The tail "fines" conveyor too is hydraulically folding but has a wider belt.