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Report offers insights on mining workforce trends
The National Research Council released a report titled "Emerging Workforce Trends in the U.S. Energy and Mining Industries." The report is available for purchase in paperback form or as a free download. According to the report, the U.S. population is projected to increase at a rate of 25 percent by 2050 to more than 400 million people. Demand for energy and minerals will grow along with the population. However, the report indicates that it is unlikely there will be sufficient skilled labor to provide the basic raw materials needed to meet this demand. As noted in SME’s 2014 technical briefing paper on these workforce trends, by 2029, more than half the current mining industry workforce will be retired, and the number of qualified science and engineering professionals graduating from U.S. schools will not meet the capacity required to fill these vacancies. There has been a steady decline in the number of mining and mineral engineering programs at U.S. colleges, SME adds. The number of programs is down to 14 this… Keep Reading
Superior Industries makes international acquisition
Superior Industries Inc. acquired Parcan Group, a Brazilian-based conveyor idler and pulley manufacturer. According to a press release, Parcan manufactures three models of conveyor idlers: a heavy-duty line, a light- to medium-duty line and a style dedicated for high-impact situations. Superior says Parcan builds conveyor pulleys for belt widths of 24 in. to 96 in. and refurbishes used pulleys. “It was rewarding to find a company with a strong cultural history of hard work and innovation, which is so similar to Superior Industries,” says Jarrod Felton, vice president of sales, marketing and engineering at Superior. “We are confident the innovative products from both our companies will create more positive opportunities for all of our customers, both domestically and internationally.” Keep Reading
Help wanted: Industry response to the labor shortage
Demand for aggregate workers is on the rise as retirements pile up. A job ad on Craigslist or Monster generally won’t attract the candidates aggregate producers seek to fill highly technical positions within their quarries. Not by a long shot. Equipment operators aren’t lining up off the street to take up quarry work, and people who can effectively maintain equipment are equally difficult to find. Hiring wasn’t always the hurdle it currently is, but it’s become a bigger issue than ever for a number of aggregate producers. Building and maintaining a workforce may become an even greater challenge in the years to come, too. Based on 2012 data, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) projects the mining industry to grow by about 50,000 workers by 2019. In addition, EIA projects the mining industry will need 78,000 replacement workers by 2019 because of active workers who will be retiring. That’s 128,000 new positions the mining industry will need to fill. Not all of those are aggregates-specific jobs, but the data suggests filling… Keep Reading
Publication exhibits poor judgment in attack on industry
People trespass into abandoned quarries every now and then. Occasionally, trespassers get injured or killed because of the risks they take. Yet, the property owners are to blame. At least that's the logic of the opinion staff at The Express-Times of Lehigh Valley, Pa. The Express-Times published an editorial Aug. 25 in reaction to 11 drowning deaths that occurred in its coverage area between May 24 and Aug. 18. The editorial becomes an attack on the aggregates industry, calling quarries "relics of the industrial age" and for quarry owners "to provide security patrols, rather than posting signs and expecting police to do the rest." The editorial is recklessly constructed. The Express-Times makes quarry owners the scapegoats despite acknowledging that quarry trespassers "routinely" cut through fences to gain access to properties. A fence around a quarry should serve as an inherent warning to keep out. A sign provides that takeaway more directly. Once people put wire cutters to a fence – or hop it – and ignore warning signage, they're breaking the law… Keep Reading
Eagle Iron Works sales director dies
Eagle Iron Works and its parent company, McLanahan Corp., announced the sudden passing of salesman Steve Slater. Slater served Eagle Iron Works as director of sales and customer service. He started at Eagle Iron Works in 2007, and joined McLanahan when it acquired Eagle Iron Works in 2012. A service was held on Aug. 6. Photo: Eagle Iron Works Keep Reading
Main addresses mining fatalities in wake of incidents
Joe Main, assistant secretary of labor for the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), addressed the mining industry on a conference call Aug. 3 – two days after three miners lost their lives in separate incidents across the United States. Main expressed his concern over the recent number of mining deaths and says MSHA will step up enforcement efforts and intensify outreach and education nationwide. “In the past month alone, there have been five fatalities in the metal and nonmetal industry," Main says. "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. We extend our deepest sympathies to the families of the miners who died in these tragic accidents." MSHA detailed the nature of the three incidents in a press release. In North Dakota, a loader operator was engulfed by a stockpile failure while standing outside his vehicle at a construction sand-and-gravel mine. In Nevada, a miner at an underground gold ore… Keep Reading
The value of volume
Load scanning technologies are positioned to deliver a more accurate profile of material loads. A load of sand arrives to the construction site. As Carey West and his colleagues observe the load, they realize it’s smaller than the 80 cu. yd. they were expecting. “We were buying quite a lot of sand from a company charging 80 cu. yd. per truck,” says West, referring to experiences he had while working for his father’s New Zealand construction company nearly 20 years ago. “We put the load on the ground and were like, ‘That’s not 80 cu. yd.’” West and his colleagues manually measured the piles delivered to determine their volumes. Based on measurements, they concluded the sand supplier was shorting them. “The truck driver would say, ‘You’ve walked all over the sand, you’ve compressed it down,’” West says. West and his father disagreed. They felt their supplier was taking advantage of them. In related instances, West says his family’s construction company was shorted because sand they ordered got stuck in the… Keep Reading
Obama criticizes Congress for lack of long-term highway bill
President Obama extended highway funding until late October after signing a three-month patch Congress provided him. But Obama, who proposed his own six-year highway bill earlier this year, expressed his displeasure to reporters in the Oval Office upon signing the short-term measure. "We can't keep on funding transportation by the seat of our pants," Obama said. "That’s just not how the greatest country [in the world] does business. I guarantee you that's not how China, Germany and other countries around the world handle their infrastructure.” According to The Hill, Obama said Congress left him no choice but to sign the short-term extension. Had Obama not signed it, funding for roads and bridges would have been interrupted. "We should not be leaving all the business of the U.S. government until the last minute,” Obama said. Keep Reading
Chaos reigns on Capitol Hill
Talk is cheap. And boy do members of the House and Senate like to talk. Especially when it comes to passage of a multi-year highway bill, which aggregate producers and their advocates continuously say would provide them with additional business opportunities and instill in them the necessary confidence to make long-term investments. Congress has been talking a lot this summer about finally passing a multi-year highway bill. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is steering the latest movement for one. He faces a Friday deadline to get a six-year measure that's currently on the Senate floor through both chambers of Congress. House Republicans put up a wall against the Senate proposal Monday, though, because of an amendment attached to the bill reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) says the House will not take up the long-term proposal because of the amendment. In addition, McCarthy says the House plans to recess Thursday – the day before the Highway Trust Fund is set to expire. A final vote on… Keep Reading
