Vulcan Materials Progresses on New Texas Limestone Quarry

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Researched by Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Vulcan Materials Company (NYSE:VMC)(Birmingham, Alabama) is pursuing plans for a new limestone quarry and crushing plant to be located north of Quihi, in Medina County, Texas. The over $20 million project has been in the study stage since 1999, when Vulcan acquired leases to 1,800 acres of land in the area.

Most recently, Vulcan announced that it had created a railroad subsidiary by the name of Southwest Gulf Railroad Company, with the goal of creating a rail alternative to a trucking crushed limestone out of the quarry. The rail line has received preliminary approval from the Surface Transportation Board. To meet federal guidelines, the company will conduct an environmental study of the proposed 7-mile rail line, which will connect Vulcan's proposed Quihi quarry with the Union Pacific line close to Highway 90.

The proposed limestone quarry will be a large operation mining between four to ten million tons a year. It will also require the construction of a crushing plant to make limestone aggregate.

Vulcan hopes to begin construction in 2004 once all the necessary permits are received.