How Aggregate Travels From Quarry to Job Site
At Central Texas Stone & Aggregate, we take care of getting the right products to your projects, but what a lot of people might not be aware of is how. How do we get millions of tons of limestone and granite within spec and shipped out all across Texas? The steps from start to finished product are far from simple, and yet we, like many other rock mining operations, have gotten the process down to a tee. It all begins, like most operations do, at the top of the highwall.
Begins with a Boom
Every job starts with a literal blast. Our drilling subcontractor drills holes into the quarry wall and our blasting subcontractor places the explosives and carefully clears the area of equipment and personnel before triggering the blast. The goal: precision. To make sure that not only the blast is controlled, confined and safe, but that we are also getting the most product out of every explosion. This balance is essential for not only production, but for safety, as the rocks are now ready to be crushed.
Once the shot rock is down, it’s loaded into haul trucks and transported to our primary crusher. Our pit loader and trucks work in a synchronized effort to maximize the tonnage delivered to the crusher. Efficient hauling at this stage helps set the pace for everything that follows which entails keeping production smooth and consistent.
Crushed and Sorted
As the haul trucks make their way to the eagle crusher, shot rock is dumped into the crusher’s feed chamber, where a high-speed rotor propels the stone into solid steel bars and plates. This breaks up the rocks into not only more manageable pieces but makes them ready to travel throughout the plant. From there, the product is transported via conveyor belts to multiple screening setups, where each stone is sieved through several layers of steel mesh or perforated plates, called screen panels, to make sure the properly sized products are deposited onto stockpiles, whether it’s riprap, flex base, bedding stone, custom orders, etc.
Contrary to what some might thing, not all stone products need to be washed before transport. However, some materials bound for DOT, FAA, COA, or USACE need to be washed to help increase their effectiveness. We utilize a wash plant at our Ronald Reagan locations to deliver a clean product—backed by test results to confirm compliance with project specifications.
From the stockpiles, our yard loader operators work closely with dispatch to know which trucks get loaded with the correct materials. We strive to get trucks loaded as quickly as possible so that they are able to deliver more material to our customers.
Scaled and Shipped Out
After the trucks are loaded with material, all of them stop by the scale house for weighing, to make sure that each product delivery is the exact tonnage required for every project. Once confirmed, the trucks head out of the quarry and onward to their destination.
CTSA delivers across Texas and the Gulf Coast, but how we deliver is up to you. We commonly use End dumps which are versatile and used in most applications, with a faster discharge and lower cost. Belly dumps are ideal for flex base installation while blading for fast groundwork. In tighter spaces or where specs call for extra control, Superdumps give us better flexibility.
We partner with experienced haulers to always ensure that every product is not only transported safely, but quickly to the target project, because at the end of the day, we’re not just moving rock, we’re helping our clients build something that lasts. If you’re looking for a supplier who knows how to move quickly, stay on spec, and deliver without the runaround, CTSA is ready when you are.
