Oldcastle tops sand and gravel list

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) released its annual ranking of the nation's top producers of construction sand and gravel for 2006, and Oldcastle Materials again is the leader. In order, the following nine are Hanson; Rinker Materials Corp. (now Cemex Inc.); Vulcan Materials Co.; MDU Resources Group Inc.; Holcim/Aggregates Industries Inc.; Cemex Inc.; Martin Marietta Aggregates; Lafarge; and Granite Construction Inc. The list, published annually, runs two years behind the actual calendar. The No. 1 producing plant in the U.S. in 2006 was A. Teichert & Son Inc.'s Perkins Plant in Sacramento County, Calif. USGS reported that 3,974 companies with 6,294 active operations and 61 sales/distribution yards produced a total of 1.32 billion metric tons of construction sand and gravel valued at $8.5 billion in 2006. Most of the construction sand and gravel came from operations with outputs larger than 200,000 metric tons per year; 1,949 operations, representing 31 percent of all operations, produced 80 percent of the total tonnage. The 10 leading producing states were, in descending order of tonnage, California, Texas, Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota, Washington, Colorado, Ohio, Nevada and Florida. Their combined production accounted for about 51 percent of the U.S. total. The 10 leading sand and gravel companies accounted for 24 percent of the total. Your comment?