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MINEABLE AND .it~ARKETABLE RAW MATERIAL RESERVES Lifeblood of the Construction Industry By Joe Shiely, Jr. I won't provide all the answers and I'm not sure I even know all the questions. I thought, however, that our customer readers of CORNERSTONE might find interesting a few commeuts about mineable and marketable raw material re- serves as viewed by a supplier to whom such reserves are vitally important. One does not need exceptional foresight to note their importance to you, our customers, as well. Mineable and marketable raw materials out of which aggregate can be produced are literally the lifeblood of the entire construction industry. To the best of my knowledge not one single ton has been replaced since man inherited the earth. Neither do I expect a delivery in the near future. The terms "mineable" and "commercially marketable" . 'important ones in this commentary. There are hundreds . _ large and small deposits in remote locations which are not, at least in the foreseeable future, commercially feasible because of their distance from metropolitan areas needing construction of all types. . Many such deposits are worked by portable aggregate plant producers to supply a single project. A remote or roadside deposit often can be used for projects such as area road resurfacing, construction of an isolated power plant, dam or airport. Urbanization has already covered some significant, com- mercially feasible aggregate sources in areas served by Shiely. For example, the University of Minnesota Agricultural Campus, the Minnesota State Fairgrounds, and Hamline University are located on extensive aggregate sontces. So too are areas along the banks of Denver 's South Platte River, areasl?resently utilized by all classes of development. All are wit):rin Shiely's key markets which are the Twin Cities' and Denver, the 14th and 27th largest metropolitan areas respectively. Of course quality also plays an important part in determin- ing the marketability of a deposit. Shiely's St. Cloud granite, for example, is some 60 miles from the nearest metro mar-' ket. Even so, the granite has particular characteristics that 'ke it saleable over a wide area. Burlington Northern Jway uses it for ballast on their heavy traffic rail lines throughout Minnesota, North Dakota, Iowa and Illinois. Other relatively distant buyers use it as well. ' Environmental considerations are another factor of vital importance in determining the economic feasibilit)"'of de- veloping a raw material reserve. Concentrations of people create the demand for aggregate in a metro area, but these same people also give or deny permission to mine. Increasingly, extensive rehabilitation of mined areas is required in order for permits to be issued. Today's reclama- tionprocesses are expensive, more so in some areas than in others. So what does the future hold? It is possible, of course, that methods of transport and reclamation will improve to a degree that will make remote sources commercially feasible. At best, however, long distance transport would probably increase construction costs substantially. As indicated initially I don't have- all the answers. I do know that today aggregate raw material reserves must be near metro areas to be truly commercially marketable, and that .the sources we are now working will ultimately be depleted. The J. L. Shiely Co. has prepared for that time by obtaining additional sources. Over the years we've done considerable subsurface pros- pecting, using our most knowledgeable Shiely personnel as well as respected consultants to evaluate results. In my time only one source that we discarded is being worked profitably. I welcome the comments of any of our CORNERSTONE readers on this subject of such vital importance to both the J. L. Shiely Company and its construction customers. We appreciate the patronage of all and hope to serve you well for 'Ye'ars to come, knowing that to do so we must constantly seekfeasiole sources of supply. Reserves are essential to us all. They are, in fact, the name of the game.