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Hoyt Wire Cloth teams up with Bramco-MPS
Hoyt Wire Cloth has announced a dealership agreement with Bramco-MPS, part of the Bramco family of companies. This sales and marketing partnership will enable Bramco-MPS to carry the Hoyt Wire Cloth line of screen media for the mining and quarrying industries. Bramco is one of the largest distributors of construction, mining, earthmoving, forestry, crane, material handling, material processing and demolition equipment with 14 full-service branches in Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee and northern Mississippi. Keep Reading
Incidents put industry in negative light
A few recent incidents have cast a negative light on the aggregates and mining industries. When such events reach the public eye, the effects could be, among other things, stepped enforcement by the Mine Safety & Health Administration (MSHA) and increased difficulty in obtaining mining permits at the local level. On Aug. 3, three miners were killed in separate incidents at operations in Nevada, North Dakota and Virginia. The highest-profile fatality of the three, a national news story, occurred at a Luck Stone aggregates operation in Virginia when a silo collapse killed an 18-year-old worker. In response, MSHA held a conference call in which Joseph A. Main, assistant secretary of labor for Mine Safety and Health, expressed his concern over the alarming number of recent deaths. “In the past month alone, there have been five fatalities in the metal and nonmetal industry. Not since 2002 have three miners died in a single day in this mining sector. We cannot – we will not – accept this turn of events,” Main said.… Keep Reading
CalPortland to buy Martin Marietta’s California cement business
CalPortland Co., headquartered in Glendora, Calif., has reached agreement with Martin Marietta Materials Inc. for the purchase of Martin Marietta's California cement business. The $420 million purchase includes the Oro Grande cement plant, and cement terminals in Stockton and San Diego. It does not include the clinker grinding plant in Crestmore. CalPortland's parent company, Tokyo-based Taiheiyo Cement Corp., made the announcement and said the purchase is part of a three-year investment plan to enhance its presence in the Pacific Rim. This asset purchase from Martin Marietta will allow CalPortland to replace the cement production capacity lost by the discontinuation of cement production at its Colton Plant. In addition, it enables the company to establish a supply chain to match the increase in cement demand in California, Arizona and Nevada. With the addition of Martin Marietta's cement plant in Oro Grande near Los Angeles to CalPortland's Mojave plant in California and Rillito plant in Arizona, the company can further optimize its cement production and logistics, leading to an expected reduction in… Keep Reading
Quarry worker dead after silo collapse
An 18-year-old worker at a Luck Stone quarry in Ashburn, Va., has been found dead following a silo collapse at the operation. The silo collapsed Monday morning, and authorities had been searching for Daniel Potter until the discovery of his body yesterday. The Washington Post reports that officials are investigating the cause of the silo failure. Charlie Luck IV, company president and CEO, said, "We are a family here at Luck Companies and today we lost a family member. Our hearts go out to the associate’s family and they will remain in our thoughts and prayers.” Keep Reading
McLanahan opens Latin American office
For years, McLanahan Corp. has serviced customers throughout Latin America using a team of international sales people and a representative network in the area. Market growth has increased the demand for a team based in the region, so the company has opened a new location in Santiago, Chile. Servicing all of South America, as well as parts of North America that include Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean, McLanahan Latin America provides sales, engineering and customer service. “What we are offering now is better service and support to the Latin American market with a full-time team in Chile," says Courtney Barrett, managing director – Latin America. "We’ve put together a team here in Latin America that has decades of experience in materials processing, and we’re confident they’ll deliver what our customers need.” Keep Reading
Effects of the western drought
The severe drought conditions in the West are creating energy concerns in some areas. NBC News reports that as rivers shrink, sources of water-generated electricity are beginning to dry up. The report cites the shutdown of a hydroelectric generation turbine on the McKenzie River in Oregon, and the pending closure of two more downstream. While this has been known to happen on occasion, it has never happened this early in the season. Lack of snowpack is causing the same problem in California, which is in its fourth year of drought. The report says total hydroelectric generation in California dropped 60 percent between 2011 and 2014. And while it usually accounts for between 14 and 19 percent of California's total power mix, in recent years it has dipped below 8 percent. To make up for the lack of hydroelectric energy, the West is turning to natural gas, wind and solar -- all more expensive than hydro. What does this mean for the aggregates industry? It means producers in certain areas may… Keep Reading
Stay on the cutting edge
When it comes to equipment to run an aggregates operation, Pit & Quarry helps producers stay on the cutting edge. For 99 years, we have been the industry’s source for information about equipment innovations, and that is especially true this month with our focus on new technologies. Two years ago in this space, I touched on the use of drones for aerial photography and videography at mine sites. In this issue, we cover a more specialized use of drone technology – making accurate volumetric computations, such as determining the amount of material in a stockpile. Lewis Graham reports, “Bearing a digital camera, a small unmanned aerial system (sUAS, or drone) can rapidly collect imagery that can be subsequently processed into a very accurate 3-D model of the imaged area. From this sUAS-collected model, volumetric information can be computed, along with ancillary data such as image maps of the collected area.” And, says the author, this new technique provides, at substantially lower cost, faster and more accurate information than do traditional… Keep Reading
Congress passes 3-month highway-funding extension
Congress has passed another short-term highway-funding patch and set the table for a long-term bill to be negotiated this fall – after nearly six years without one. Today, the Senate approved an $8 billion extension of federal transportation funding, passed earlier this week by the House of Representatives, keeping the program going until Oct. 29. The Hill reports that President Obama, who has advocated for long-term extension of highway funding, is expected to sign the patch to prevent an interruption in funding during the busy summer construction season. Earlier in the day, the Senate passed a long-term bill that was negotiated by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). Though a six-year bill, it technically only outlines funding for three years. It is expected the bill will serve as a starting point for negotiations with the House on a long-term bill once Congress returns from its August recess. The National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association (NSSGA) welcomed the Senate’s approval of a long-term bill. “We were… Keep Reading
Cuomo, Biden announce new LaGuardia Airport
In a joint press conference today with Vice President Joe Biden, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo introduced a plan to redesign and rebuild LaGuardia airport. In a report from the Associated Press, Cuomo says the first part of the plan will begin next year and will cost $4 billion, with Delta Air Lines a partner in a new terminal project. Cuomo says approvals that would normally take years were expedited by Biden's office. The report says the new airport will be constructed closer to the Grand Central Parkway and be twice the size of the old one. Keep Reading
