Aggregates Manager Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/815541
by Kerry Clines | Contributing Editor PLANT PROFILE 12 AGGREGATES MANAGER / May 2017 S omeone might not expect to find an aggregate operation on top of a mountain in the middle of the Nevada desert, but that's exactly where you'll find Sloan Quarry, 19 miles south of downtown Las Vegas. Aggregate Industries (AIUS), part of the LafargeHolcim Group, purchased the quarry in 2004 and has turned it into the third largest quarry in the state. "The limestone quarry of about 1,000 acres sits atop Sloan Mountain," says Garry Priest, aggregate sales representative for AIUS' Southwest Region. "It's really the footprint of the quarry. We've done a lot of benching, which requires constant analysis of the deposit." Before AIUS purchased the operation, the mountain was being mined internally and rail cars carried the ma- terial down the side of the mountain to the plant below. There were also kilns on site because most of the material being mined was sent to the gold mines in the north. Now, Priest explains that most of what is produced at the mine is used in asphalt and concrete. "The quality of our aggregates (absorbency and hardness) enables us to produce a wide range of asphalt products," he says. Operations "We run three shifts here," says Rick Hancock, operations manager at Sloan Quarry. "We run a day shift, which starts at 4 a.m. and ends at 2 p.m. The maintenance shift comes in at noon and works until 8 p.m. The night shift runs from 7 p.m. to 4 a.m. "The facility produces about 2 million tons a year," Hancock adds. "We're bringing the mountain down from about 3,800 feet to subterranean. There's a lot of reserve, so we'll be producing quality aggregates for decades to come." Sloan Quarry embraces the growing demand for construction materials in Las Vegas. Mining on the Mountain