Greenfield to Granite
August 1, 2007 By: Pit & Quarry Editorial Staff Pit & QuarryProviding crushed granite products to the Alabama region, Wedowee Quarry is a rare greenfield startup success story.
While piloting his helicopter over east central Alabama about six years ago, Rodney Walker spotted a granite ridge gleaming in the sunlight. To him, this was literally buried treasure. After all, he understood the serious need for additional sources of high-quality aggregate. As a general contractor, he had to haul in material from 40 miles away.
Walker had always wanted to own his own quarry, and he viewed this untouched deposit as a distinct long-term advantage, especially since granite is not found in the northern half of the state. Somehow he knew his future would lie in the new discovery.
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Wedowee Quarry opened as a greenfield site in August 2002. "It's been quite a journey," he said, admitting that he's never been one to dodge a tough challenge. Walker had survived the acquisition and financing of the property; the permitting process; and an initial startup with mobile track-mounted equipment. What followed next for Walker would be unexpected.
Permitting to production
The fact that the permitting phase for some new aggregates operations may take up to 20 years is indeed a sobering statistic.
While Walker's pathway to permitting took just under 12 months, he stresses that it was still a huge challenge. "You just have to be really dedicated and committed to work through each of the hurdles, and through all of the paperwork and public hearings. It is a learning experience, especially in dealing with government agencies. You have to jump through a lot of hoops," he said.
"The silver lining in the whole process is the relationship that I had with the community before I even started the project. I was already embedded in the community, and had already been a part of helping it grow. I think an unknown person would have had a much harder time. There's a lot more to this industry than just making and selling material," stressed Walker.
Wedowee Quarry began operation with mobile, track-mounted equipment, which is often a good strategy. It gave him the flexibility to work close to the face, and reposition as needed. Importantly, mobile equipment would be far easier to permit than a fixed installation.
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But Walker soon experienced the downside to the track-mounted spread versus the fixed plant – less plant operational availability and higher operating costs. Often, compact mobile equipment is harder to maintain, and components are not as easily accessed for maintenance "Bottom line, we needed to run a minimum of 300 tph and it was just not possible. The equipment would have worked well in limestone or concrete recycle, but we were exceeding what it was built for by trying to crush the amount of granite we fed to it," said Walker.
Initial production for Walker and his crew was somewhat hand to mouth, as he describes it. "We didn't have the ability to inventory or stockpile. As soon as we could make products, it was going out the door. We knew that we needed a new plant," he said.
With "hat in hand," Walker pursued financing. As a substantial sum was still owed on his mobile spread, the bank wanted to insure that he could manage additional investment. As a result, they wanted him to secure a large, long-term customer. So Walker approached APAC-Southeast Inc. with the idea of putting an asphalt plant at the site. "As it turned out, APAC wanted to buy the quarry instead," he said.
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