Pit & Quarry, February 2013

by kEvin yAnik Cemex halts 10 year pursuit of quarry T he Fresno Bee reports that Cemex signed off on a mining prohibition for Jesse Morrow Mountain outside of Fresno Calif ending the companys long push for a sand and gravel quarry in the area According to the newspapers report Cemex officials said late last year that they would restrict mining on their 2000 acre property Cemex made the concession as part of a deal with Fresno County In return for the mining prohibition county leaders honored an unusual request to rehear the companys failed environmental impact report for the originally proposed quarry Company officials say an approved environmental report adds value to their property which Cemex plans to sell EPA head announces retirement EPA Chief Lisa Jackson announced in December that she was planning to resign her post sometime after President Obamas State of the Union address last month Jackson cited a desire to pursue new challenges and spend more time with her family as reasons for her resignation According to the Washington Post Jackson pressed for limits on emissions from coal fired power plants during her four year tenure and on dumping mining waste into streams and rivers Obama had not picked Jacksons successor as of press time but the Washington Post says two leading candidates are the EPAs Bob Perciasepe and Gina McCarthy FIRST OF MONTH OPENING JAN DEC Cemex CX 1021 899 CRH Oldcastle CRH 2103 1840 Eagle Materials EXP 6009 5365 Granite Construction GVA 3454 3077 Martin Marietta Materials MLM 9811 9101 Texas Industries TXI 5269 4687 U S Lime Minerals USLM 4885 4407 Vulcan Materials Co VMC 5330 5340 Source Yahoo Finance AggregAtes ForeCAst DCG Inc U S Aggregates Forecast billion metric tons More drama looms for industry despite fiscal cliff avoidance The fiscal cliff drama is over only to be replaced with debt sequester and budget confrontations With one side wanting smaller government and the other wanting bigger government these confrontations will continue at least through 2014 As such it makes the outlook for 2013 14 look very similar to the 2011 12 outlook slow growth due to uncertainty and a lack of pro growth policies For construction the outlook continues to be mixed with residential gaining strength while nonresidential and nonbuilding remain near current levels i e no growth Recordlow mortgage rates low prices and more lending by banks along with employment gains are creating a very positive housing outlook Double digit gains in 2012 will continue through 2013 After that it depends on whether pro growth policies have been enacted that boost GDP growth beyond 2 percent per year For now we are assuming no pro growth policies will be enacted by Washington and therefore residential 2010 2011 2012 2013est 2014est RESIDENTIAL 031 034 038 042 040 NON RESIDENTIAL 048 054 056 054 056 NON BUILDING 120 110 107 105 109 TOTAL 199 198 201 201 205 Yr Yr Ch 25 05 15 00 20 construction growth stalls by 2014 Nonresidential construction is at a plateau and will hover near no growth for the next few years Energy and technology will be the exception and nonresidential will grow rapidly in these markets Nonbuilding is doing well but now the transition from stimulus led growth to economic led growth is occurring This means that energy and technology driven areas will boost state and local tax receipts enough to drive public works upward Overall it means flat to modest growth in total U S nonbuilding demand David Chereb David Chereb has many years of forecasting construction materials He received his Ph D in economics from the University of Southern California He can be reached at dc@ davidcherebgroup com 6 PIT QUARRY February 2013 www pitandquarry com