The Dodge Momentum Index retreated 0.8 percent in March compared to February, according to McGraw Hill Construction, a division of McGraw Hill Financial. The Momentum Index is a monthly measure of the first (or initial) report for nonresidential building projects in planning, which have been shown to lead construction spending for nonresidential buildings by a full year.
Read MoreMonth: April 2014
Metso Establishes Joint Venture
Metso Minerals has entered into a 50-50 joint venture with LiuGong that will be headquartered in Shanghai. LiuGong-Metso will combine Metso’s know-how in track-mounted crushing, screening and technology with LiuGong’s extensive distribution and manufacturing resources in China. LiuGong-Metso will design and manufacture localized versions of Metso’s Lokotrack mobile crushers and screens under dual branding: LiuGong Metso. The joint venture will…
Read MoreRyan Budget Proposal Advocates Cuts
Rep. Paul Ryan’s just-released budget would limit expenditures from the Highway Trust Fund to the dwindling revenues generated by the federal gasoline tax, but give states increased flexibility to pay for their highway projects, perhaps through keeping and spending the gas taxes collected in their state instead of sending them to Washington. The plan amounts to a decentralization of transportation…
Read MoreMain Tells NSSGA ‘We Owe Miners a Safe Workplace’
Joseph A. Main, assistant secretary of labor for Mine Safety and Health, addressed members of the National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association (NSSGA) at its convention March 5 in Las Vegas. Main covered a variety of topics, and noted that “the actions taken by MSHA and the mining community to improve mine safety and health” have put the industry “on…
Read More4th Circuit Lacks Jurisdiction In Discrimination Reinstatement Case
The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit lacks jurisdiction to act upon a mining company’s appeal of a Review Commission decision upholding the temporary reinstatement of a miner.
Read MorePrinciple Number One: Safety First
This is the first in a series of six columns exploring traditional principles of safety. – Ed.
Read MoreMore Merger Mania
April 5, 2014 – The word on the street is that Holcim and Lafarge are in advanced merger discussions. In statements, the companies emphasized that no agreement had yet been reached, and that there was no guarantee of a deal. But they pointed to a “strong complementarity” and “cultural proximity” between their operations. A merger would allow the companies to cut…
Read MoreThis Week’s Market Buzz
A new frac sand mine in southeastern Barron County, Wis., will make relatively quick work of a sand deposit estimated at about 6 million tons, according to the Barron News-Shield. Information in the reclamation plan identifies the owners of the 80-acre property as David and Louise Driver of Chetek. The operator is Chieftain Sand & Proppant-Barron of New Auburn.
Read MoreHi-Crush, U.S. Well Enter into Long-Term Contract
Hi-Crush Partners LP announced the entry into a three-year supply agreement by a subsidiary of Hi-Crush with U.S. Well Services, LLC, a Texas-based oilfield services provider of well stimulation services to the upstream oil and gas industry. The supply agreement requires U.S. Well to pay a specified price for a specified minimum volume of frac sand each month.
Read MoreADM-Benson Quinn Adds Frac Sand Operation
After its first full year of business in an agriculture-based community, Archer Daniels Midland Co. has found an oil field niche at its Hebron, N.D., grain elevator, according to Prairie Business magazine. Not only does it take wheat, sunflowers and canola, it has added a frac sand transloading facility.
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