P&Q tours industry sites with OSSGA in Ottawa

Nearly 90 members of the Ontario Stone, Sand & Gravel Association (OSSGA) attended the group’s 2017 Operations Tour this September in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

The event was hosted by OSSGA staff, including Norm Cheesman, executive director, and Julie Harrington, manager of training and development. Taking place at the Ottawa Marriott, the event kicked off with a networking reception.

The next morning, OSSGA members filled two buses to visit a variety of sites, including the Lafarge Bearbrook Quarry, R.W. Tomlinson Moodie Quarry and Thomas Cavanagh Almonte operation. In addition, Dennis Gratton from the city of Ottawa spoke about the Ottawa Light Rail Transit project.

The group also toured the Nortrax John Deere dealership, where a barbeque lunch was provided. Following is a select group of photos from the tour.

Photos 1-3: Jacques Beauvais, plant manager at the Lafarge Bearbrook Quarry, detailed his site’s operation for the bus tour of OSSGA members. An onsite asphalt plant and ready-mix plant are part of the facility. Beauvais says the quarry conducts 400 loader cycles per day, and an impactor is used as the site’s primary crusher, owing to the traprock deposit.

Photos 4-6: One of the unique characteristics of the Lafarge Bearbrook Quarry is that housing developments sit just 200 ft. from the quarry’s edge. The company held an open house to show local residents a blast. Beauvais says most who attended expected the blast would be a more violent event. They asked, “Is that all there is to it?”

Photos: 7-9: The R.W. Tomlinson Moodie Quarry has been operated since 1981 and includes an onsite asphalt plant. Like the Lafarge Bearbrook Quarry, the quarry operation sits within Ottawa’s city limits.

Photos 10-13: Jeff Miller, aggregate superintendent at the Moodie Quarry, led the bus tour of the site. The quarry floor is at a depth of 135 ft., and an average blast at the operation brings down about 50,000 tons. Miller says 7,000 to 9,000 tons are processed each day at the facility, and central Ottawa is the main market for the site’s finished products.

Photos 14-16: The Ontario Stone, Sand & Gravel Association’s tour of sites in the Ottawa area stopped at midday for a visit to the Nortrax John Deere dealership, where a barbeque lunch was served. Luke Sheppard, general manager, hosted a tour of the facility. Sheppard says 35 employees work at the Ottawa branch. The modern 33,000-sq.-ft. building houses two 10-ton cranes in its service bay.