Quarry Faces: January 2024

Pit & Quarry account executive Tim Carolin and editor-in-chief Kevin Yanik were on hand as the final blast of 2023 was conducted at Keeney Sand & Stone in Painesville, Ohio. While there, P&Q had the chance to catch up with Kevin Keeney (pictured), the third-generation owner and operator of the company. Watch a video of the year-end blast.

Jack Kopanski, managing editor of Pit & Quarry, attended Komatsu’s Quarry Days in Sahuarita, Arizona, on behalf of the magazine. While in Arizona, Kopanski visited with Marc Pomerantz (left), senior manager of customer experiences at Komatsu Mining, and Jill Rick, manager of public relations and corporate social responsibility at Komatsu Mining. In the photo, Pomerantz and Rick pose at the Komatsu Proving Grounds in front of the company’s ZT44 track drill. Komatsu’s Quarry Days is designed for dealers and customers to explore and operate the company’s equipment. Learn more about the event.

Also at Quarry Days, P&Q bumped into (from left) Jim Marriott, Patrick McSorley and Marc-Alexandre Girard of Montabert and Tramac Corp. The three are pictured standing in front of the Tramac TS-14 rock breaker boom.

Representatives from Roland Machinery Co. also attended Quarry Days, including sales manager Jeremy Kerber (left) and territory manager Aaron Strade. The Milwaukee-based equipment dealer sells and services Komatsu equipment at 17 locations throughout Wisconsin, the upper peninsula of Michigan, Illinois, northern Indiana and eastern Missouri.

Dan Martin of New Enterprise Stone & Lime Co. (third from right) was recently enshrined in the Pennsylvania Aggregates & Concrete Association’s Ambassadors of the Industry Hall of Fame. Pictured alongside Martin are Travis Rohrer of Rohrer’s Inc. (far left), Jeff Detwiler of New Enterprise (second from left) and Tom Spellman of New Enterprise (far right).

Several P&Q reps were at the Ohio Aggregates & Industrial Minerals Association’s Annual Meeting, which drew a record 627 attendees. Among those there were Q4 Impact Group’s Maggie Archibald (left) and Ben Shoenfelt, who touted their new Tervuren product. Tervuren streamlines site-specific hazard training, making it easier to welcome visitors into operations while delivering consistent hazard awareness training and managing records with ease.

Additionally, P&Q had a presence at the third annual South Carolina Aggregates Association (SCAA) Workshop & Exhibition in Columbia, South Carolina, where Yanik delivered a presentation titled “Innovations in Quarry & Plant Technologies.” The SCAA meeting included a workforce development panel that featured (from left) Rick Todd of the South Carolina Trucking Association, Libby Pritchard of the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association, and Mary Corley of Tri County Technical College. Blanchard Machinery’s Jason Nelson and Be Pro Be Proud SC’s SuzAnne Driscoll also participated in the panel while Martin Marietta’s Jim Thompson moderated. According to SCAA, 350 people attended the meeting.

P&Q digital media specialist Marie Emerick had the opportunity late last year to attend Quarry Academy, an educational seminar hosted by Sandvik Mining & Rock Solutions and Dyno Nobel in San Antonio. A tour of Cemex’s Balcones Quarry in New Braunfels, Texas, was once again a component of Quarry Academy. In this photo, Dan Melosso, LifeCycle support specialist for Sandvik Rock Processing USA, provides an overview of the Balcones Quarry’s primary and secondary crushing plants.

A live blast at the Balcones Quarry was another component of Quarry Academy. Following the shot, Cemex plant manager Adam Slusser and director of aggregate operations Lance Griffin posed high above the quarry.

In addition to a tour of the Balcones Quarry, those who attended Quarry Academy had dinner one evening at The Alamo. Several representatives from Cemex were in attendance, including (from left) Maria Espinoza, Arthur Fitzpatrick, Laurent Cruz, Isaias Garcia, Jordan Hendry, Brian Maynard and Javier San Martin.