Pit & Quarry articles from April 2001

Pit & Quarry archives from April 2001

An estimated 374 million metric tons.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 1, 2001... * An estimated 374 million metric tons of crushed stone were produced and shipped for consumption in the United States in the fourth quarter of 2000, a decrease of 5.3 percent compared with the same period of 1999, according to the U.S. Dept....

The estimated output of construction sand and gravel produced.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... * The estimated output of construction sand and gravel produced for consumption in the fourth quarter of 2000 was 274 million metric tons, an increase of 0.4 percent compared with the same period of 1999. The estimated annual production of...

Martin Marietta Materials Inc.(Acquires Brauntex Materials)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... * Martin Marietta Materials Inc. purchased Brauntex Materials Inc.'s limestone facility in New Braunfels, Texas.

Wire.(Congress rescinds OSHA regulation)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... B The House and Senate both voted to rescind the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Ergonomics Rule, widely regarded as a blueprint for a future MSHA rule . . . A bill has been introduced in the House of Representatives to bar...

RED FLAGS.(Pollution, also Bush's negative stance on unions)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... * According to the Bureau of Labor, February unemployment statistics indicated that the transportation equipment sector was the only one to gain jobs in a softening economy, adding 13,000 new positions. * A study conducted by the Air...

STOCK watch.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... STOCK watch (at press time) This Month Last Month Centex Construction Prod. d 30.44 29.56 Florida Rock Industries d 44.50 41.026 Hanson Plc f 30.40 32.5...

ESSENTIAL economics.(Construction stats)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... ESSENTIAL economics MONTHLY CONSTRUCTION CONTRACT VALUE SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ANNUAL RATES, IN MILLIONS Jan. 2001 Dec. 2000 % Change Nonresidential Building $183,150 $166,738 +10...

According to the U.S. Census Bureau.(construction statistic for December 2000)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 1, 2001... * According to the U.S. Census Bureau, construction put in place in December was $811 billion, a 2 percent increase over a year ago.

According to the CIMA.(top ten destination for US construction equipment exports)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 1, 2001... * According to the CIMA, the top 10 export destinations for U.S. construction equipment in 2000 were Canada, Belgium, Mexico, Australia, Chile, Indonesia, Japan, Brazil, U.K. and Spain. Exports totalled $7.78 billion last year.

Disturbing signs in Washington.(George W. Bush to slash Transportation Department budget)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)(Editorial)
April 1, 2001... President Bush released his 2002 budget proposal and while overall it looks to be a satisfactory blueprint for federal spending, there are some disturbing signs that I hope are not dangerous warning signals. No federal department took a worse...

Construction materials forum features New Jersey governor.
April 1, 2001... The 7th Annual Mid-Atlantic Concrete, Construction & Aggregate Forum took place at Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, N.J., as invited guests, including New Jersey Governor Don DiFrancesco, opened the annual event with the presentation of the...

CMAC concludes annual conference in San Diego.
April 1, 2001... The 2001 Construction Materials Association of California (CMAC) Annual Conference featured the state's top business lobbyist, the state's top air-quality official, a correspondent from Northern California's largest newspaper and a nationally...

Lafarge introduces new composite material.(Lafarge licenses Ductal from European consortium)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Lafarge Corp. is entering into a licensing arrangement with a European consortium to market Ductal, a breakthrough composite building material, in the United States and Canada. With strengths similar to steel and toughness equivalent to...

January construction contracts climb 5 percent to $480 billion.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 1, 2001... Contracting for new construction in January advanced 5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $480.2 billion, according to the F.W. Dodge Division of The McGraw-Hill Companies. Healthy gains were reported for nonresidential building...

U.S. Concrete Inc.(acquires Blue Circle Materials Inc.)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 1, 2001... * U.S. Concrete Inc. has acquired Blue Circle Materials Inc., a ready-mixed concrete company with operations at seven locations in northern New Jersey and one location in southern New York. BCM produced revenue during 2000 of approximately $50...

Martin Marietta Materials Inc.(sells refractories to Minerals Technologies Inc.)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... * Martin Marietta Materials Inc. announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Martin Marietta Magnesia Specialties Inc., has signed an agreement to sell its refractories business to a wholly owned subsidiary of Minerals Technologies Inc.

Lafarge Corp.(acquires Pine Hill Materialsl Corp., American Ready-Mix Concrete Corp.)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... * Lafarge Corp. has purchased substantially all of the assets of Buffalo, N.Y.-based Pine Hill Materials Corp. and American Ready-Mix Concrete Corp.

The security of anonymity.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Look at the two photos that accompany this article. They were sent to me anonymously. Except for the photographer and those working at the operation, nobody knows what plant produced this little bit of innovative rigging. And the truth is, I am...

Settling MSHA cases.(Mine Safety and Health Administration)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... For the Energy and Mineral Law Foundation's "Mine Safety and Health Special Institute," I was asked to make a presentation on "Settling MSHA Cases." In preparing my presentation for this group, mostly lawyers, I found that the topic was one...

Out of Sight -- Out of 'Mine' : There are numerous benefits to going underground, but producers must do plenty of research first.
April 1, 2001... An increasing number of producers are digging deep for material -- and profits -- and are considering an underground mine as an effective alternative to a standard quarry operation. This option is typically considered when the above-ground site...

Goodyear eases belt installation tension.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Goodyear Engineered Products is helping to eliminate the No. 1 cause of power transmission belt failure -- improper tensioning. Goodyear's TensionRite, an adhesive-backed plastic gauge that comes packed with each new Goodyear Torque Team banded...

Kolberg adds model to screen-plant line.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Kolberg-Pioneer Inc. has just released into production the new and improved Kolberg Direct Screen (KDS) portable screening plant. Engineered for optimum screening action and high portability, the unit is designed for various screening...

Control system keeps sand in spec.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Plant operators can consistently maintain production of specification sand products with the automated, Windows-based, Aggre-Spec III control system designed and manufactured by GreyStone Inc. The user-friendly Aggre-Spec III is designed...

Quarry improves safety of binder content analysis.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Aggregate Industries Ltd. has replaced the use of solvents to determine the bitumen content of black-top materials produced by its Hulands Quarry with the loss-on-ignition method, using a specially designed furnace from Carbolite. Since...

Equipment of Tomorrow : Continuous shovel, continuous production.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... In the aggregate industry it is common to have to move large quantities of product, and the more efficiently that can be done the greater the potential is for profit. Unfortunately, the machinery designed to move large quantities of product is...

Backseat driver.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... While nothing compares to being in the driver's seat of a Caterpillar backhoe loader, an award-winning Web site now offers the next best thing to being there, with answers and explanations to common questions. HowStuffWorks.com takes an...

BuildPoint and they will come.(BuildPoint.com's concrete procurement platform)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... BuildPoint Corp., an e-commerce company for the construction industry, offers an integrated procurement platform specifically developed for the construction industry. BuildPoint's Concrete Procurement Suite automates and expedites the...

O eCanada.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... This month, the Canadian Association of Mining Equipment and Services for Export (CAMESE) will hold two, one-day conferences to explore opportunities and threats for mining companies and their suppliers in the developing e-commercialization of...

Lowering the BOOM : At a California quarry with a legendary history, a drilling and blasting upgrade increases production.
April 1, 2001... Drilling. Boring. Penetrating. Holing. Call it what you wish. Within the context of quarrying, any of these can be used to mean a very important activity. That activity is namely, blasthole preparation. There is plenty of drilling activity...

Squeezing out Sparks : Doing the little things adds up to a big production increase at Superior Ready Mix's Lakeside, Calif., quarry.
April 1, 2001... Take an old, inefficient aggregates plant, add some modestly priced improvements, and presto, you get a production increase of 200 percent -- while the labor and plant-operating times remain level. Jack Brouwer, owner of Superior Ready Mix...

Growing a Plant : Ennstone's Morie Quarry upgrades its processing capabilities with conveyors and washing/classifying equipment.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... When Ennstone plc, a U.K.-based construction-materials company, made its initial foray into the U.S. market, it did so through the acquisition of Bruntcliffe Aggregates, which owned Atlantic States Materials of Virginia. By nature of that...

Staying Afloat : Dredging the Ohio River since 1914, the Yager family has watched its business become an integral part of its community.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... When Pat A. Yager Sr. started a sand and gravel business in 1914 on little money and no experience, he probably never dreamed that 87 years later his son, John A. Yager Sr., grandsons Pat Yager, John A. Yager Jr. and Jim Yager, and great...

Protective eyewear.(Dalloz Safety Corp.)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Dalloz Safety offers its Willson Millennia Crystals protective eyewear with a splash of high-tech color. With their 180-deg. clear field of vision the glasses combine lightweight comfort and exceptional optics with visionary styling. Their...

Motor line.(WEG Electric Motors Corp.)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... WEG has redesigned the electrical and mechanical characteristics of its existing line of low-voltage motors. The resulting W21 line offers the high performance of a severe-duty motor at a standard motor price. This new line is fully...

Portable feed hopper/conveyor.(Grasan Equipment Company Inc.)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Grasan's road-portable feed hopper/conveyor is designed to handle a variety of materials at rates of 300 to 500 tph. The unit includes an 8-ft., 6-in. hopper with abrasive wear liners and folding wing extensions, a 36-in. x 65-ft....

Slotted-opening screens.(W.S. Tyler Inc.)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... W.S. Tyler's Ton-Cap and Ty-Rod Slotted Opening Screens are now manufactured to meet a wider range of high-capacity and high-production applications. The Ton-Cap and Ty-Rod are fabricated with slotted openings, which offer 10 to 50 percent more...

Stackable conveyors.(Superior Industries)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Superior Industries offers a two-page, four-color flyer outlining the features and benefits of its QT (quick transfer) Stackable Conveyors. QT stackable conveyors cut down on freight costs by hauling up to six conveyors on one flatbed trailer....

Spherical roller bearing brochure.(SKF USA Inc.)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... A 12-page brochure titled, "Explorer -- The New World Standard for Endurance and Performance in Spherical Roller Bearings," is now available from SKF USA Inc. The brochure profiles the SKF Explorer Spherical Roller Bearing, including bearing...

Vibrating portable screening plants.(Vibrotech Inc.)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Quarry operators, sand and gravel producers and recycle contractors can screen materials into three separate products with Vibrotech's Vibroscreen portable vibrating screening plants. Vibroscreen plants are available with production capacities...

Impact weighing systems.(Ramsey)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Ramsey offers its DE10 and DE20 Impact Weighers. These impact weighers are designed to measure the mass flow rate and total mass of free-flowing particulate materials. They are ideal for applications in vertical mass flow streams where...

Industrial motors catalog.(Rockwell Automation)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Rockwell Automation offers the Reliance Electric 2001 Industrial Motors Catalog. The 278-page catalog features small, medium, and large AC and DC stock, standard and non-stock motors, with ratings from fractional to 1,500-hp. These motors are...

Scalping, screening, stockpiling unit.(Finlay Hydrascreens USA)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Finlay Hydrascreens USA's 693 Supertrak features a 5-ft. x 20-ft. double-deck screen box that can be angled from 18 to 30 deg. and handles up to 500 tph. Three undercarriage configurations provide for maximum mobility on the job site and over...

Hydraulic excavator.(Gradall Co.)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... The Gradall Co.'s XL3300 hydraulic excavator features power and strength as well as a wheeled undercarriage. The model XL 3300 is armed with Gradall's XL Series high-pressure, load-sensing hydraulics. Able to work in low-overhead environments...

Siderail vehicle scale.(Rice Lake Weighing Systems)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Built to exceed federal bridge standards specifications, Rice Lake Weighing Systems Survivor SR Series siderail truck scales are constructed with an 8-in. thick concrete deck and 24-in. I-beams. The G-force load cell suspension system...

Cat develops emissions solution.(Caterpillar Inc.)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Caterpillar announced a significant breakthrough in on-highway truck engine technology designed to meet future federal emissions requirements and lower operating costs for truck engine customers. The new emissions control technology, known...

Komatsu in the news.(Komatsu America International, Tramac)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Komatsu America International Co. held its 2001 Field Days event in Chattanooga, Tenn. The company uses the annual event to unveil the newest additions to its growing product line and to showcase its ever-expanding attachment packages, its...

CEMA expands opportunities.(Conveyor Equipment Manufacturers Association)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... The Conveyor Equipment Manufactur-ers Association, CEMA, now offers two categories of membership. One is manufacturing membership, which is open to manufacturers of conveyors and conveyor components, and has been expanded to include companies...