TOP NEWS
Volvo CE Addresses Skills Gap
Volvo kicked off its first in a series of educational workshops for technical students last month, leveraging the 50th anniversary of the invention of the articulated hauler.
BMC Enterprises Makes Acquisition
BMC Enterprises Inc., the parent company of St. Louis-based Breckenridge Material Co., has completed the acquisition of Lincoln County Sand & Gravel.
Oklahoma Road Conditions Cost Motorists Big Money
Roads and bridges that are deficient, congested or lack desirable safety features cost Oklahoma motorists a total of $4.9 billion statewide annually.
MSHA WATCH
On March 22, a 42-year-old lead man with six years of mining experience was fatally injured at a Martin Marietta Materials plant when he was struck by fly rock from blasting operations. The lead man was parked in his pickup truck at a location to prevent others from accessing the blasting site. He was approximately 1,200 ft. from the blast area. This is the third fatality reported in calendar year 2016 in metal/nonmetal mining. As of this date in 2015, there were six fatalities reported in metal/nonmetal mining. This is the first Blasting and Breaking Agents fatality in 2016. There were no Blasting and Breaking Agents fatalities in the same period in 2015.
USGS STATS
The estimated annual output of crushed stone produced for consumption in 2015 was 1.33 Gt, an increase of 7 percent compared with that of 2014, according to Jason Willett, crushed-stone commodity specialist for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). “An estimated 343 Mt of crushed stone was produced and shipped for consumption in the United States in the fourth quarter of 2015, an increase of 9 percent compared with that of the same period of 2014,” Willett said.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
- The U.S. Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce announced that construction spending during February 2016 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,144.0 billion, 0.5 percent (±1.6 percent) below the revised January estimate of $1,150.1 billion. The February figure is 10.3 percent (±2.1 percent) above the February 2015 estimate of $1,037.5 billion.
- At a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $660.5 billion, new construction starts in March receded 1 percent from February’s pace, according to Dodge Data & Analytics. Total construction starts had jumped 13 percent in February, led by a huge gain for the electric utility and gas plant category.
- Nationwide housing starts fell 8.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.089 million units in March, according to newly released data from the U.S. Housing and Urban Development and the Commerce Department. Overall permit issuance was also down 7.7 percent.
ENERGY
WTI Crude Oil Futures Price: 4/25/2016: $42.64/bbl, up $2.86 from week earlier; down $14.51 from year earlier.
Natural Gas Futures Price: 4/25/2016: $2.063/mmBtu, up $0.123 from week earlier; down $0.468 from year earlier.
Retail Gasoline Prices: 4/25/2016: $2.162/gal, up $0.025 from week earlier; down $0.408 from year earlier.
Retail Diesel Prices: 4/25/2016: $2.198/gal, up $0.033 from week earlier; down $0.613 from year earlier.
Weekly Coal Production: 4/16/2016: 11.087 million tons, up 0.843 million tons from week earlier; down 5.959 million tons from year earlier.
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration