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 Pulverized
minerals from rock are used in the manufacturing of paint, paper,
plastics, vinyl, pharmaceutical, toothepaste, chewing gum, glass,
cleansers, and dozens of other everyday household items. Aggregates
are used to purify water, to recycle waste materials and are a principal
defense against shoreline erosion.  Using
materials from a local quarry or sand and gravel mine near your community
significantly reduces the costs to individuals and taxpayers of residential,
commercial and industrial building, street, road and highway construction. |
 Millions
of tons of limestone are used every year in agriculture to neutralize
the acid caused by rain and other farm inputs. Buffer
areas around aggregate quarry operations, and some areas within them,
can be, and are used as wildlife habitats. In
the end, aggregate operation sites can easily be reclaimed and converted
to further benefit the community as residential, commercial or industrial
properties or for office parks, golf courses, parks, recreation areas,
storm water management facilities or farmland. |
38,000
tons of aggregate go into each lane mile of interstate highway.
Without
aggregates, there would be no paved streets, roads, sidewalks, airport
runways, or railroad beds. More than 94 percent of asphalt pavement
and more than 80 percent of a concrete sidewalk is aggregate.
The
aggregate industry employs more than 120,000 men and women across
the country, and in the year 2000 alone, an approximate total of
2.7 billion metric tons of crushed stone, sand, and gravel, valued
at $14.2 billion, were produced and sold in the United States -
The aggregate industry is quite literally a backbone upon which
our country is built.