Quarry: New Copperhill operation introduced
When Joe Lordi promises, “We want to be a community partner y’all can count on,” Gerald “Sambo” Hughes is quick to back up his words, saying, “They don’t just talk the talk, they walk the walk. These are good folks.”
Lordi is president and chief executive officer of Hedrick Industries, owner of the new rock quarry on the Intertrade Holdings property in Copperhill.
Hughes is a native of the Copper Basin and superintendent of Hedrick’s operation known as the Copperhill Quarry.
Lordi, Hughes and several other Hedrick officials hosted local leaders for a tour of the site Thursday morning, May 8.
They brought their business philosophy, vision for the site, and a $2,500 check to the Copper Basin High School Scholarship Fund to their first open house.
Lordi said the family owned and operated company currently has 11 active mine sites, all with the same priorities of safety, community and integrity.
Jon Neumann, vice president of Material Sales Company, echoed the goal is “to serve the whole community.” He said there is “nowhere but up” to go for the Copperhill Quarry.
Lordi explained the plans for the quarry, which he said sits in the perfect location to serve three states.
Hedrick Industries has signed a lease through 2069 with Intertrade Holdings for 180 acres of the Copperhill site, Lordi saying it promises “a deposit of granite that will last years and years and years.”
Hughes said he saw Hedrick’s long term commitment to Copperhill as good for the area when he accepted the superintendent’s position. In that role, he’s responsible for production, safety and environmental sciences.
A temporary crusher is in place at the quarry as preparations are underway to build a much larger, permanent crusher that will turn the “very high quality, long term granite reserve” into a variety of products, Lordi said.
Company officials predict the open pit mine being created will eventually be about 250 feet deep.
Opening up the pit will include blasting the granite. Company officials went over the extensive safety program in place, which includes a pre-blast warning system and seismographs in place to measure effects.
Hughes said phone calls are also made to area businesses, or anyone who asks, prior to blasts. “They’re really not subject to any danger,” he said, the calls are a courtesy to let them know what’s going on.
The Copperhill Quarry currently employees nine workers. Lordi noted that statistics show that for every one quarry job six community jobs are supported.
During the opening presentation, Monica Farrow, a member of the Scholarship Committee at Copper Basin High School, thanked Hedrick for their $2,500 donation to the fund. That donation was arranged by Polk County Third District Commissioner Samantha Trantham.
“They are already giving to the community,” Farrow said of Hedrick’s donation.
Lordi also assured the gathering Hedrick Industries has nothing to do with biosolids. A tour of its operations showed the facility where Denali Water Solutions had operated was cleaned out. Hughes said Hedrick had dug up the old concrete floor that held machinery, filled much of the hole it left with rock, and covered it with a 12-inch slab of concrete. “We’re cleaning it up,” he said.