| AggBeat |
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December 2005
by , Senior Editor |
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For more than 25 years, the Minerals Information Institute has provided free materials to teachers across the nation. Through its work with educators, MII fulfills its mission of making sure that students are better informed about the science of minerals and other natural resources, as well as their importance in our every day lives. And while reaching students one teacher at a time has certainly been an effective approach, the organization experienced exponential growth during its silver anniversary year. During the 2004/2005 school year, MII responded to a call for assistance from Maureen Allen, a K-12 science program specialist with the Orange County (California) Department of Education. With more than half a million students, Orange County is the state’s second largest school district. Allen’s search for resource materials that would better enable Orange County students to meet the requirements of the No Child Left Behind federal mandate led her to the MII Web site. Her request for aid led to the donation of 1,300 Periodic Table of Element charts to the 28 school districts in the county, with three charts distributed to each of the county’s 388 elementary schools. “We’re humbled,” MII President Nelson Fugate says of the magnitude of the request. “This single program puts our materials before of 2 percent of all students in the United States. The icing on the cake would be if we could get California companies to sponsor the program for the 5 million students in California’s other public schools, which would represent another 10 percent of all students in America.” In recognition of MII’s generous contribution, the Orange County Board of Education recognized the institute with its prestigious “Outstanding Contributions to Education Award.” In the classroom, the MII Ultimate Periodic Chart is being used to prepare students for state proficiency tests that include a sample of the chart. The unique presentation of the MII chart helps students recall specific information as they take the state proficiency tests, Allen says. The program has been such a success that the Orange County Department of Education developed a video conference training program for teachers. To help develop the video conference, Allen recruited George Miller, Ph.D., and Mare Taagepera, Ph.D., two noted professors from the University of California at Irvine to answer questions. “We did it live with teachers at eight different sites all over Orange County,” Allen explains. “They could ask questions along the way, which they did.” The program first aired on Oct. 11, and Allen says that it was very well received. The video training will likely be refined and offered again later in the school year, including in the weeks before students take science achievement exams. The Periodic Table training is expected to be the first in a series of video conferences that address difficult concepts to teach in the classroom. To ensure county-wide access to the training, the video conference is also being digitized and is expected to be available at the Orange County Department of Education Web site at www.ocde.us . To put the impact of the program into context, the number of students receiving earth science education in Orange County through this program is higher than the total number of students enrolled in 21 states across the nation. And in highly regulated states such as California, it’s particularly important to educate future generations about the everyday uses of minerals. |
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MANUFACTURER NEWS Kobelco Construction Machinery America LLC has donated equipment and provided cash assistance to support humanitarian relief in reconstruction work to help in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The company has provided two excavators from its Calhoun, Georgia, plant, and it is also working with its dealers, along with the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, in the hardest hit areas to mobilize assistance, divert new equipment, and deliver units there. Case Construction Equipment also is also helping with hurricane relief efforts through cash donations and bringing in equipment to help with relief efforts. At press time, Case was delivering eight rough-terrain forklifts as well as some loader/ backhoes. New Holland Construction has donated equipment and cash assistance to support ongoing humanitarian relief and restoration work in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. As part of a more than $1 million joint CNH brand hurricane relief effort, seven loader backhoes have been delivered to the local government in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, an area south of New Orleans damaged by Katrina. Staker and Parson Companies have been given five Environmental Eagle Awards by the National Stone, Sand, & Gravel Association. The company received four Silver awards and one Bronze award. Superior Industries has completed a 35,000-square-foot expansion to its Morris, Minnesota-based manufacturing operation. The facility now comprises a total of 115,000 square feet, an expansion that allows for in-line manufacturing. Schenck AccuRate’s parent company Carl Schenck AG has formed Schenck Tianjin Industrial Technology Co. Ltd. The weighing equipment division will move its manufacturing operations to the Tianjin facility effective Jan. 1, 2006. In addition to the manufacturing location in Tianjin, branch offices in Shanghai and Beijing will remain open offering sales, service, and support. Metso Minerals has completed an investment program at its Warrenton, Missouri, facility. A major part of the Warrenton investment is the addition high-speed punching equipment designed to improve the quality and availability of the rubber products. Luck, Wisconsin-based Durex Products, Inc. is celebrating its 40th anniversary as a supplier of screening media and wear parts to the aggregate, mining, concrete, and asphalt industries. Dexter + Chaney has been named to Deloitte’s “Fast 50” Program for Washington state, a ranking of the state’s 50 fastest-growing technology companies, for the ninth year in a row. The Seattle-based company placed 45th in the ranking, based on the percentage of revenue growth during a five-year span from 2000-2004. 35,000
bicyclists race through More than 35,000 cyclists rode through Lafarge Canada’s Montreal East Quarry and its adjacent cement terminal property in the “Tour de I’lle” 28-mile bike race around Montreal, Canada, as part of the city’s yearly weeklong “Bike Fest.” Bike race participants pedaled along the quarry’s 1.8-mile internal roadway system. Lafarge Canada says that it realized the race was an unprecedented opportunity to showcase what is on the other side of the berm from what they typically see, so it placed loaders, haul trucks, and ready-mix concrete trucks. To promote the theme of quarry safety, which is important to every aggregates operation, banners were placed along the bike route reminding the cyclists that they need to keep safety in mind as well by wearing helmets and sharing the roadway with others. Lafarge’s mascot, “Rocky,” was also on hand to greet the race participants after they climbed up from the quarry to the cement terminal. “It was a one of a kind opportunity to increase public awareness about the industry and reinforce the theme of safety,” a Lafarge Canada’s Montreal East Quarry spokesperson notes. MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS On Oct. 3, 2005, MDU Resources Group, Inc. — through its Knife River Corp. subsidiary — acquired Jebro, Inc., as well as the assets of Irving F. Jensen Co., Inc. and Brower Construction Co. The companies have combined annual revenue of about $80 million. Terms of the transaction and conditions were not disclosed. Jebro, Inc., with operations in Sioux City, Iowa, and near Sioux Falls, South Dakota, supplies asphalt to paving contractors within four upper Midwestern states. Irving F. Jensen Co., Inc. is a concrete paving company that operates in Iowa, South Dakota, Kansas, and Nebraska. Brower Construction Co. is an asphalt paving company that primarily serves markets located in Iowa, South Dakota, and Nebraska. The three businesses expand Knife River’s existing presence in the region and further enhance its vertical integration strategy. — by Bill Watkins, director of Brown Gibbons Lang & Co., is a contributing editor. He can be reached at 216-241-2800. Hurricanes pushing cement consumption to record levels Analysts have predicted that rebuilding the Gulf Coast region after Hurricane Katrina will push cement consumption higher than current record levels, according to the Skokie, Illinois-based Portland Cement Association. A cement shortage already exists throughout the United States, and analysts say that the New Orleans region alone could require at least 4 million tons of cement during the next four to five years, according to a PCA report. Hurricane Rita also added to the cement shortages. The Houston-Galveston (Texas) customs district accounted for 8 percent of cement imports in the first half of 2005, and the New Orleans customs district accounted for 12 percent of the imports, Ken Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America, says in The Data DIGest report. “Losing these imports for even a few days is likely to add to the list of 32 states — plus the District of Columbia — that had reported spot shortages before Katrina hit, worsen the shortage in some of those states and increase prices beyond the 12.7-percent jump that occurred between August 2004 and August 2005,” Simonson says in his report. To help with this shortage, Simonson says that U.S. Commerce Department officials are reportedly considering a suspension of the 55 percent anti-dumping duty on Mexican cement. “They asked AGC for information on how the hurricanes are affecting demand, and they have accelerated talks with the Mexican government about a settlement that might involve substituting quotas for the duty,” Simonson notes in his report. However, there is concern that quotas could worsen the supply situation because quotas do not allow additional supplies to be imported at any price, Simonson points out. He adds: “Construction activity will be affected for many months to come by the traumatic impacts of Katrina and Rita…Many construction materials are likely to be pricier and scarcer because the storm knocked out so much supply, even if demand does not pick up.” He says that contrary to some analyses and speculation, he does not expect a quick rebound in construction in the hurricane zones. At press time, Hurricane Wilma was battering Florida, and this storm may also push the U.S. cement consumption for rebuilding from hurricanes even higher. Because an accurate damage assessment is not available until after a hurricane is over, no dollar amounts or tonnage estimates for concrete consumption from Hurricane Wilma were available. |
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Reprinted from Aggregates Manager Magazine |
