Aggregates Manager Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/282830
11 AGGREGATES MANAGER April 2014 The quarry's location is one reason it has been successful. It sits on the eastern edge of a rock deposit that runs along and to the west of Interstate 35. "There's not a lot of rock to the east of us here in Texas," Snead explains. "With rail, we can reach out as far as Longview and down to Freeport. We don't go to the west because there are other quarries in that direction." Two is better than one In the 50-plus years since Texas Crushed Stone bought the property in Georgetown, it has purchased additional property adja- cent to the original property, ensuring the availability of reserves for many years to come. Part of the land acquisition is located in Round Rock, so the quarry is actually lo- cated in two different cities. The company wanted to be active in both jurisdictions, so it opened a second primary plant on the Round Rock end of the property. That pri- mary is connected to the secondary plant on the Georgetown side of the quarry via a 2-mile-long conveyor. There are benefits to having two primary plants. "We operate both sites, but only run one at a time," Snead explains. "We nor- mally run one plant for three or four shifts, and then switch to the other. This allows us to perform maintenance on one plant while the other is running. The maintenance team and the operators alternate between the plants." Daily operation The quarry mines Edwards limestone, which works well as base material for road- work and parking lots, as well as under the foundation slabs of buildings and homes. The deposit is as deep as 120 feet in some places, but averages 70 to 90 feet deep in PLANT PROFILE