Cemex shows off FEC Quarry during Young Leaders tour

The FEC Quarry is one of the largest aggregate operations in the U.S., producing about 8.5 million finished tons per year. Photo: P&Q Staff

The National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association’s (NSSGA) 2023 Young Leaders Annual Meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, presented participants with an opportunity last week to tour Cemex’s FEC Quarry in nearby Miami.

In operation since 1974, the FEC Quarry is Cemex’s largest site in Florida and the company’s second-largest aggregate facility in the U.S. Nathan Layfield, who spent most of his career with Cemex in South Florida, presented a variety of eye-popping insights about the operation, as well as mining in the region, during the Young Leaders tour.

According to Layfield, the FEC Quarry produces about 8.5 million finished tons per year. Roughly 10 million tons go through the operation’s primary crusher each year, he adds, and a dozen 150-ton haul trucks are utilized in the production process.

“Primarily in the pit we’re running Cat 992 loaders and Cat 785 haul trucks,” says Layfield, who took on a new role this year with Cemex in Arizona as vice president and general manager of aggregates. “Those are 150-ton haul trucks, and we run 12 of those per shift.”

A focus of the Young Leaders tour of the FEC Quarry was a dragline, specifically a fully electric Marion 7820 model that runs a 56-cu.-yd. bucket. Layfield describes the process at the FEC Quarry as “wet mining,” with the presence of water being an ongoing challenge.

Cemex’s Nathan Layfield guided the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association’s Young Leaders during a tour of the FEC Quarry. Photo: P&Q Staff

Located about 17 miles from the coast, Layfield says the FEC Quarry naturally sits about 4 ft. above sea level. He says the aggregate operation is one of seven in South Florida that make up the region’s Lake Belt.

“[After] we mine, we leave lakes behind,” he says. “When you fly in [to Miami], you see all of these giant lakes that are left over once the area has been mined out.”

Mining in South Florida is rather different from mining in other parts of the U.S., Layfield adds.

“One of the challenges with this style of mining is it is a single pass,” he says. “You have a single bench under water of which you can mine. You get one chance at the material. With an open pit, generally, you just keep benching down and go deeper and deeper, but you don’t expand laterally very often.”

At the FEC Quarry, Layfield says Cemex mines the full depth (75 to 85 ft.) on every dragline pass.

“It expands laterally with every cut that you take,” he says. “That becomes a challenge, obviously, on the mobile equipment side, because as you expand horizontally, your haul increases. It’s something we’re always having to manage and deal with.”

Unique FEC Quarry project

This fully electric Marion 7820 model operating in one section of the FEC Quarry was a focus of the Young Leaders tour. Photo: P&Q Staff

The Marion 7820 dragline presented another unique challenge in recent years to Cemex. Seeking to mine a new area of the site that was obstructed by power lines, Cemex officials first approached the utility company about lowering the lines so they could move their dragline to the desired area.

“[We] politely asked: ‘Will you drop your power lines and let us walk our dragline to the other side? We’ll be in and out in about three hours.’”

The request could not be granted, though.

“Once they stopped chuckling and laughing – we never got an answer to that – because these are 500,000 volts [and] they’re fed out of FPL’s (Florida Power & Light Co.) Turkey Point Nuclear [Plant],” Layfield says. “Those power lines run all the way to West Palm Beach. So, they’re a big distribution hub.”

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