Naceville Materials Quarry, owned by H&K Group, in Naceville, Pennsylvania took local residents on a tour of the quarry to explain the blasting process.
The group of residents taking the tour on April 15 were in the quarry but about 1,500 feet from the blast. A drone was used to make a video of the blast, which was shown live and in rerun to the persons on the tour.
Naceville Materials is owned and operated by the H&K Group. The company has applied to be allowed to expand the quarry at Ridge and County Line roads. Opened in 1992 with a permit to quarry 79.3 acres, the quarry now is permitted for 98.6 acres and is proposing a 12.82-acre expansion, according to information given on the tour.
Argillite is quarried at the site, geologist Susan Brown said. The quarry has 18 employees, she said. The amount of stone quarried at Naceville each year varies depending on the demand but in recent years has been around 700,000 tons, Jim Haines, H&K Group’s chief operating officer, said.
Because of the variation from year to year in the amount of stone removed, it’s difficult to say exactly how much longer the site will be quarried, but at current levels, it could be about 20 years without the expansion, he said. The expansion could add another six to eight years, he said. In answer to a question about the site’s reclamation — which residents said was not done at other local quarries — and what happens after the quarrying is completed, Haines said the company does concurrent reclamation. “We’re reclaiming the quarry as we go,” he said.
After the quarrying, the site will be made into natural habitat and a water impoundment area, Drumbore said. “You’ll have basically a reservoir here,” he said.
Quarrying may not be glamorous, Haines said, but people know its importance. Stone for scheduled repaving on Ridge Road comes from the quarry, he said. Many of the employees come from the area, he said.
Joe Johnson, Naceville’s general superintendent, said he was glad to see the turnout for the quarry tour. “It’s nice for everybody to see what we do,” he said.
