Walker Aggregates quarry earns OSSGA award

By |  March 3, 2021

Walker Aggregates logo

Walker Aggregates’ Ridgemount Quarries in Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada, received the Ontario Stone, Sand & Gravel Association‘s (OSSGA) 2020 Award of Excellence, presented at the OSSGA 2021 Conference & AGM.

The OSSGA Award of Excellence is given to sites that demonstrate an ongoing commitment to community relations, operational improvements and sustainable practices.

According to OSSGA, Ridgemount Quarries was the 2020 recipient for its stewardship across all of the award’s key criteria. The Ridgemount Quarries team, for example, prioritizes being a good neighbor, employing technology and equipment to monitor and mitigate noise, dust and vibrations caused by operations. Ridgemount Quarries also maintains a traffic safety program to keep its roads safe.

Additionally, OSSGA recognized Ridgemount Quarries for its contribution to the health and well-being of its community through cash and material donations. In 2020 alone, Ridgemount Quarries gave about 168 tonnes of stone to Habitat for Humanity for a housing project in Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada, and it made cash donations to the Friends of Fort Erie’s Creeks and the Greater Fort Erie Centre for the Arts.

Beyond all this, OSSGA says Ridgemount Quarries hosts educational programs and site tours, and it hosts paleontologists from all over North America.

Also, Ridgemount Quarries has conducted a rehabilitation project since 1999 that aims to create a lake for recreational and natural activities. Ridgemount Quarries recycles concrete and asphalt from local infrastructure construction projects for reuse in the market, and it makes an effort to reuse equipment. The site incorporates energy-saving technologies and processes, and it carries out impactful recycling programs for other materials, as well.

“An Award of Excellence is the greatest honor the OSSGA can bestow on an aggregate operation, and I’m so very pleased to receive this on behalf of the team at Ridgemount Quarries,” says Ken Lucyshyn, executive vice president of Walker Aggregates. “We’ve worked very hard to be one of the very best quarry operations in the province of Ontario, and it’s gratifying to be recognized for our efforts.”

About OSSGA awards

Through the OSSGA Industry Recognition Awards program, OSSGA recognizes a range of activities that contribute to a progressive image of member aggregate producers and the aggregate industry as a whole. A key OSSGA goal is to raise the bar in the industry by highlighting operations that go above and beyond what is required by legislation, the association says.

“We encourage each member to be sound stewards of the lands on which they operate, and to be engaged and valued members of their community,” says Norm Cheesman, executive director of OSSGA. “All of OSSGA’s 2020 award winners have met and exceeded those expectations.”

A full list of winners can be award winners can be found in the 2020 OSSGA Industry Recognition & Student Design Award Booklet and at GravelFacts.ca.

Kevin Yanik

About the Author:

Kevin Yanik is editor-in-chief of Pit & Quarry. He can be reached at 216-706-3724 or kyanik@northcoastmedia.net.

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