Unless you have been living under – pun oh so certainly intended – a rock, for the past month or so, you know that Congress passed, and President Obama signed, the Moving Ahead For Progress In The 21st Century Act (MAP-21). The legislative package will fund construction of the nation’s roads, bridges and mass transit for the next 27 months, and assures the employment of 3 million Americans in the construction industry.
As I sat around a table in a fine establishment in Buxton, England, eating and drinking with representatives from quarrying magazines in the U.K., Australia and France, it became apparent to me that we had solved all of the problems of the global aggregates industry, not to mention the entire world.
This is our annual buyers’ guide issue, and as such, it is a good time to talk about the market for construction-equipment sales. This is especially important when you take into consideration that this is a MineExpo year.
Last century, back when 1999 was about to morph into 2000, I wrote a feature story about mining for minerals on the moon. It seemed like an idea that had possibilities, and plans for such an endeavor were being promoted by astronaut Harrison Schmitt, the last man to set foot on the moon. Schmitt is still at it, but he now focuses on mining for the helium-3 isotope.
It’s April and that means the start of the baseball season, but it was the Agg1 show in March that hit a big home run. Held in conjunction with World of Asphalt, the show was an unqualified success. Show officials report record numbers for registration: more than 6,500 attendees. Prior to the show, they had already announced record exhibit space, number of exhibitors and number of education session tickets sold.
