March 15, 2023 – At ConExpo-Con/Agg in Las Vegas, I ran into Dave Turin, the star of Gold Rush and Dave Turin’s Lost Mine reality TV shows. Several years ago I had the opportunity to tour his family’s aggregates operation in Oregon. Dave is a great guy and makes some very cool shows, and he revealed that he has a…
Read MoreAuthor: Mark Kuhar
Dispatchers Need High-Tech Tools To Perform Their Duties Effectively And Efficiently.
By Mark S. Kuhar The dispatch office is the heart of every materials supplier. Their job is fast-paced, involves long hours, and several phone calls throughout the entire day trying to make on-time deliveries and maintaining high levels of production. Figuring out complex scheduling, working long hours, dealing with demanding clients – it’s a tough job. Not just anybody can…
Read MoreDoing More with a Product Partner
Elkhart County Gravel Increases Screen Wear Life and Boosts Plant Efficiency With High-Quality Screens. By Mark S. Kuhar Elkhart County Gravel, headquartered in New Paris, Ind., operates four Indiana and Illinois Department of Transportation certified sand and gravel pits in northern Indiana that produce landscape stone, asphalt blends and concrete mined from a bench below water. As Plant Manager Arnie…
Read MoreMake That 10
I will achieve a certain vaunted double-digit milestone this year: attendance at 10 ConExpo-Con/Agg shows. To be fair, my first show was before the merger, it was just Con/Agg at that time, separate from ConExpo. The show was held in the Houston Astrodome in 1988. But I say it counts. The first combined ConExpo-Con/Agg was held in Las Vegas in…
Read MoreUSGS: Nonfuel Mineral Production Jumps $3.6 Billion in 2022
By Mark S. Kuhar U.S. mines produced approximately $98.2 billion in nonfuel mineral commodities in 2022 – an estimated $3.6 billion increase over the 2021 revised total of $94.6 billion, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. This information comes from the 28th annual USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries report, released Jan. 31 by the USGS National Minerals Information Center. The report…
Read MoreIt Takes More Than Luck
Charlie Luck Talks To Rock Products About Luck Companies’ 100 Years Of Powering Possibilities. By Mark S. Kuhar In 1923, Charles Luck Jr. opened a crushed stone operation, Sunnyside Granite Co., in Richmond, Va. One-hundred years later, Luck Companies is the nation’s largest and fastest-growing family-owned and operated producer of crushed stone aggregates and environmental performance products through its Luck Stone, Luck…
Read MoreWhy Was Ancient Roman Concrete So Durable?
By Mark S. Kuhar According to a new article in Science Advances, in contrast to their modern counterparts, ancient Roman mortars and concretes have remained durable in a variety of climates, seismic zones and even in direct contact with seawater, as in the case for maritime concrete. Because of this proven longevity on the order of millennia, these ancient construction…
Read MoreVulcan’s Hill Sees Market Strength
Feb. 16, 2023 – In its just released quarterly report, Vulcan Materials reported total revenues of $7.315 billion versus $5.552 billion for full-year 2021, more than a 30% increase. Regarding the company’s outlook, Tom Hill, Vulcan Materials’ chairman and chief executive officer, said, “Most leading indicators of demand remain healthy in the near term, and we carry strong pricing momentum into 2023.…
Read MoreTargeting Carbon
Market forces rooted in the Buy Clean, Carbon Neutrality, LEED v4 and Net Zero movements have spawned an important new web portal, Construction Materials Carbon Management or (CM)2, at www.cmcarbonmanagement.com. The site was recently launched by SEMCO Publishing, parent company of Rock Products; and will be co-edited by me and Don Marsh, editor of Concrete Products. The portal follows cement,…
Read MoreYou Make Your Own Luck
Jan. 25, 2023 – Almost 10 years ago, I visited Luck Stone’s Bull Run Quarry in Chantilly Va., to see a demonstration of an unmanned haul truck. “The company takes pride in its reputation as a collaborative partner that unearths innovative solutions to help our customers be more successful,” the company told me at the time. Well, it is still true today. The…
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