The Nation’s Top Producers

With 2008 statistics, producers reported a second consecutive year of decreased production results.

By Jason Christopher Willett

U.S. production of construction aggregates in 2008 was 2.48 billion metric tons (2.73 billion short tons) valued at $21.2 billion, free on board (f.o.b.) at plant. Construction aggregates production decreased 7 percent, and the associated value increased 55 percent compared with the quantity and values reported in 2000. In 2008, construction aggregates production decreased for the second consecutive time owing to a

16-percent decrease in the production of construction sand and gravel and a 13-percent decrease in the production of crushed stone. The average unit value (price of a metric ton of material f.o.b. plant) has increased every year since 2000.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) defines the construction aggregates industry as those companies that mine and process crushed stone and construction sand and gravel. The construction aggregates industry is present in all 50 states and consists of about 5,400 mining companies that manage more than 10,000 operations. In 2008, the 10 leading construction aggregates-producing states were, in descending order of tonnage, Texas, California, Pennsylvania, Florida, Illinois, Missouri, Ohio, Arizona, New York, and Indiana. These 10 states accounted for 45 percent of the national total production of construction aggregates, or 1.11 billion metric tons (1.23 billion short tons).

The 25 leading companies, in order of construction aggregates production in 2008, are listed below. These companies controlled 2,075 active operations throughout the 50 states and accounted for 43 percent of the total production and 46 percent of the total value of construction aggregates in the United States. Of the 2,075 active operations, 238 operations did not report their production or sales to the USGS, and their total production was estimated by using employment data provided by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). The 100 largest construction aggregates operations produced 13 percent of the total production of construction aggregates.

1. Vulcan Materials Co.

1200 Urban Center Drive

Birmingham, AL 35242-2545

Phone: 205-298-3000

Web site: www.vulcanmaterials.com ^[1]

2. Martin Marietta Aggregates

2710 Wycliff Road

Raleigh, NC 27607-3033

Phone: 919-781-4550

Web site: www.martinmarietta.com ^[2]

3. Oldcastle Materials, Inc.

900 Ashwood Parkway, Suite 700

Atlanta, GA 30338-4780

Phone: 770-522-5600

Web site: www.oldcastlematerials.com ^[3]

4. Lehigh Hanson, Inc.

7660 Imperial Way

Allentown, PA 18195-1016

Phone: 800-523-5488

Web site: www.lehighcement.com ^[4]

5. Cemex S.A.B. de C.V.

920 Memorial City Way, Suite 100

Houston, TX 77024-2649

Phone: 713-650-6200

Web site: www.cemexusa.com ^[5]

6. Lafarge North America, Inc.

12950 Worldgate Drive, Suite 500

Herndon, VA 20170-6000

Phone: 703-480-3600

Web site: www.lafarge-na.com ^[6]

7. Holcim Group/Aggregate Industries Management, Inc.

7529 Standish Place, Suite 200

Rockville, MD 20855-2783

Phone: 301-284-3600

Web site: www.aggregate-us.com ^[7]

8. Rogers Group, Inc.

421 Great Circle Road

Nashville, TN 37228-1407

Phone: 615-242-0585

Web site: www.rogersgroupinc.com ^[8]

9. MDU Resources Group, Inc./Knife River Corp.

1150 West Century Ave.

Bismarck, ND 58506-5568

Phone: 701-530-1400

Web site: www.kniferiver.com ^[9]

10. Carmeuse Lime & Stone

11 Stanwix St., 21st Floor

Pittsburgh, PA 15222-1312

Phone: 412-995-5500

Web site: www.carmeusena.com ^[10]

11. Texas Industries, Inc. (TXI)

1341 West Mockingbird Lane

Dallas, TX 75247-6913

Phone: 972-647-6700

Web site: www.txi.com ^[11]

12. New Enterprise Stone & Lime Co., Inc.

3912 Brumbaugh Road

New Enterprise, PA 16664-9137

Phone: 814-766-2211

Web site: www.nesl.com ^[12]

13. Chemical Lime Co.

3700 Hulen St.

Ft. Worth, TX 76107-6816

Phone: 817-732-8164

Web site: www.chemicallime.com ^[13]

14. Granite Construction Inc.

585 West Beach St.

Watsonville, CA 95076-5123

Phone: 831-724-1011

Web site: www.graniteconstruction.com ^[14]

15. Luck Stone Corp.

515 Stone Mill Drive

Manakin Sabot, VA 23103-3261

Phone: 800-898-5825

Web site: www.luckstone.com ^[15]

16. CalPortland Co.

2025 East Financial Way, Suite 200

Glendora, CA 91741-4603

Phone: 626-852-6200

Web site: www.calportland.com ^[16]

17. Dolese Bros. Co.

20 N.W. 13th St.

Oklahoma City, OK 73101-4806

Phone: 405-235-2311

Web site: www.dolese.com ^[17]

18. Ready Mix USA Holding Co.

2570 Ruffner Road

Birmingham, AL 35210-3914

Phone: 205-986-4800

Web site: www.readymixusa.com ^[18]

19. Ash Grove Cement Co.

11011 Cody St.

Overland Park, KS 66210-1313

Phone: 800-545-1882

Web site: www.ashgrove.com ^[19]

20. Colas Inc.

163 Madison Ave., Suite 500

Morristown, NJ 07960-7303

Phone: 973-290-9082

Web site: www.colas.com ^[20]

21. Fisher Industries

3020 Energy Drive

Dickinson, ND 58601-7184

Phone: 800-932-8740

Web site: www.fisherind.com ^[21]

22. Mulzer Crushed Stone, Inc.

534 Mozart St.

Tell City, IN 47586-2446

Phone: 812-547-7921

Web site: www.mulzer.com ^[22]

23. Fred Weber, Inc.

2320 Creve Coeur Mill Road

Maryland Heights, MO 63043-8501

Phone: 314-344-0070

Web site: www.fredweberinc.com ^[23]

24. DeAtley Crushing Co.

4307 Snake River Ave.

Lewiston, ID 83501-0759

Phone: 208-743-6550

Web site: www.deatleycrushing.com ^[24]

25. Buzzi Unicem USA, Inc.

100 Brodhead Road

Bethlehem, PA 18017-8935

Phone: 610-882-5000

Web site: www.buzziunicemusa.com ^[25]

In 2008, a total of 1,591 companies produced or sold crushed stone in the United States from 3,816 operations with 3,912 quarries and 199 sales and/or distribution sites. A total of 1.44 billion metric tons (1.59 billion short tons) of crushed stone was produced for consumption from surface and underground mines, nearly 13 percent less than the total production of 2007 and 19 percent less than that of 2006. This was the lowest level of crushed stone produced for consumption in the United States since 1997. The value of the total crushed stone produced was $13.4 billion, a decrease of 5 percent compared with the 2007 total. The average unit price for crushed stone increased 9 percent. The increase in unit prices partially offset the impacts of the large decrease in production, so that the total value of the crushed stone produced in 2008 was still greater than the value in 2005.

The 10 leading crushed stone producing states were, in descending order of tonnage, Texas, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Florida, Illinois, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio, and Indiana. The combined production of the 10 leading states decreased by 14 percent compared with that of 2007, but was more than half of the national total production of crushed stone in 2008.

In 2008, underground production, totaling 80 million metric tons (88 million short tons), accounted for 6 percent of the total U.S. production of crushed stone. Crushed stone was produced in 91 underground mines located in 17 states. The five leading states were, in descending order of underground production, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Iowa. Production from these five states represented 71 percent of the total U.S. crushed stone produced from underground mines.

The 10 leading companies, in descending order of crushed stone production in 2008, are listed below. These companies, with 668 active quarries and 183 sales and/or distribution yards, accounted for 46 percent of the total production of crushed stone in the United States.

1. Vulcan Materials Co.

2. Martin Marietta Aggregates

3. Lehigh Hanson, Inc.

4. Oldcastle Materials, Inc.

5. Cemex S.A.B. de C.V.

6. Lafarge North America, Inc.

7. Rogers Group, Inc.

8. Holcim Group/Aggregate Industries Management, Inc.

9. Carmeuse Lime & Stone

10. New Enterprise Stone & Lime Co., Inc.

The five leading crushed stone quarries, in descending order of 2008 production, are listed below. These five quarries produced 32 million metric tons (36 million short tons) of crushed stone, valued at $283 million.

1. Texas Crushed Stone Co., Inc., Georgetown, Williamson County, Texas

2. Lafarge North America Inc., Calera Quarry, Shelby County, Ala.

3. Martin Marietta Aggregates, Beckmann Quarry, Bexar County, Texas

4. Vecellio & Grogan, Inc., White Rock, Miami-Dade County, Fla.

5. Cemex S.A.B. de C.V., Balcones Quarry, Comal County, Texas

A total of 1.04 billion metric tons (1.15 billion short tons) of construction sand and gravel, valued at $7.8 billion, f.o.b. plant, was reported produced in the United States in 2008 by 3,832 companies with 6,192 active operations and 77 sales and/or distribution yards. This benchmarks as a 16-percent decrease from 2007’s total sand and gravel production of 1.23 billion metric tons, with a corresponding value of $8.6 billion, f.o.b. plant.

The 10 leading states, in descending order of production, were California, Texas, Arizona, Michigan, Washington, Utah, Colorado, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and New York. Their combined output of construction sand and gravel accounted for approximately 50 percent of the total U.S. construction sand and gravel production.

The 10 leading producing companies, in descending order of tonnage in 2008, are listed below. These companies, with 692 active operations, accounted for 22 percent of the total output of construction sand and gravel in the United States. In addition, these companies operated 35 sales and/or distribution yards.

1. Oldcastle Materials, Inc.

2. Cemex S.A.B. de C.V.

3. Vulcan Materials Co.

4. Lehigh Hanson, Inc.

5. Holcim Group/Aggregate Industries Management, Inc.

6. MDU Resources Group, Inc./Knife River Corp.

7. Granite Construction Inc.

8. Martin Marietta Aggregates

9. Fisher Industries

10. Lafarge North America, Inc.

The five leading construction sand and gravel pits/plants, in descending order of 2008 production, are listed below. These five pits/plants produced 17 million metric tons (19 million short tons) of construction sand and gravel, valued at $116 million.

1. Clyde Companies, Inc., South Hansen Pit, Salt Lake County, Utah

2. CalPortland Co., Dupont Pit, Pierce County, Wash.

3. Nevada Ready Mix, Lone Mountain Pit, Clark County, Nev.

4. Gila River Indian Community, Maricopa Pit, Pinal County, Ariz.

5. Robertson Ready Mix, Inc., Rialto Pit, San Bernardino County, Calif.

Domestic production data for crushed stone and construction sand and gravel are derived by the USGS from voluntary surveys of U.S. producers. In 2008, 11,732 aggregates operations were surveyed and 85 percent were active. Of the aggregates operations surveyed, 4,083 operations, or 41 percent, reported their production/sales and dollar value to the USGS. Their total production was 1.27 billion metric tons (1.40 billion short tons). Slightly less than one-fifth of the operations that reported their 2008 production tonnages did not report a corresponding dollar value for their production.

Production of the non-responding quarries was estimated using employment data provided by MSHA. The estimated production of 4,210 non-respondent operations was 651 million metric tons (718 million short tons), or 26 percent of total U.S. construction aggregates production.

Unit values are determined by the average annual f.o.b. plant prices, usually at the first point of sale or captive use, as reported by the construction aggregates producing companies. This value does not include transportation from the plant or yard to the consumer. It does, however, include all costs of mining, processing, in-plant transportation, overhead costs, and profit. In 2008, 70 percent of the operations that responded to the annual survey reported the value of their production. For those operations that reported production only, the unit values of total production or specific end uses were estimated based on other reporting operations within the same state. The average unit value for specific end uses within a state was used in the estimation of value for operations reporting the same specific end uses. The state average was used in the estimation for operations reporting a total production, but not total value. AM

Jason Christopher Willett is a crushed stone commodity specialist with the U.S. Geological Survey.

 

More minerals information

The USGS produces a set of publications on construction aggregates and other mineral commodities, including the Minerals Yearbook, Crushed Stone and Sand and Gravel Mineral Industry Surveys, and Mineral Commodity Summaries.

The Minerals Yearbook is an annual publication that contains statistical data on crushed stone and construction sand and gravel as separate chapters. The Minerals Yearbook series includes chapters on approximately 90 mineral commodities and 175 countries.

Crushed Stone and Sand and Gravel Mineral Industry Surveys are quarterly, Web-based publications designed to provide timely statistical data on domestic production of crushed stone, construction sand and gravel, and aggregates at the national, state, and regional levels. The quarterly survey is a sample survey that generates production-for-consumption estimates by quarter, based on information reported voluntarily by a limited number of producing companies.

The Mineral Commodity Summaries is published on an annual basis and is the earliest annual government publication to furnish estimates regarding prior year construction aggregates industry data. Mineral Commodity Summaries 2010 currently provides preliminary data on 2009 production. A directory of producers is published annually for the crushed stone industry and for the construction sand and gravel industry. These directories rank the leading companies based on their production-for-consumption for the previous year.

All publications are available on the USGS Mineral Resources Program Web site, http://minerals.usgs.gov/ ^[26], by selecting the Quick Link for “Minerals Information.”