Pit & Quarry, March 2010

D R E D G I N G Dredge the Red Alan Ritchey Materials engineers a new highly integrated dredging and sand washing operation on the Red River A cting as a border between Texas and Oklahoma the Red River is the second largest river basin in the southern Great Plains It gains its name from the red clay farmland of its watershed where operations such as Alan Ritchey Materials Co ARMCO are dredge mining its high value sand and gravel for use in the Dallas Fort Worth Texas market area Located just five miles from the Texas state line the new ARMCO Plant 2 dredging and sand washing plant is based in Yuba Okla on rural property along the Red River ARMCO Plant 1 has been in operation since 2005 and is currently undergoing a rebuild Nearly three years in the making the new plant came online in early 2009 Its a state of the art highly integrated operation that reflects the entrepreneurial and engineering skills of its owner Alan Ritchey In addition to a 90 ft x 25 ft dredge that Ritchey and his team designed and built in their own fabrication facility Ritchey says he is most Alan Ritchey Materials personnel designed and built their own dredge for operation on the Red River The dredge is 90 ft x 25 ft proud of the plants unique elevator which can take the crew from the ground to the top of the tower a more than 80 ft ascent with five possible stops along the way Ask the crew about it and theyll smile and tell you theyre very thankful The grand plan Our plan was always to run both plants and to be able to produce more than two specifications at the same time says Richard Stroup ARMCO vice president We also want to address the specific needs of different concrete sand customers pavers versus ready mix state jobs versus county jobs and to differentiate between the fine sands from masonry sand to golf course sand and fill sand Our goal is to eventually use much of the capacity of the new larger plant for our concrete sand market and use the smaller plant for specialty sands he says B Y C A R O L W A S S O N Take note In addition to a 90 ft x 25 ft dredge that Ritchey and his team designed and built in their own fabrication facility Ritchey says he is most proud of the plants unique elevator which can take the crew from the ground to the top of the tower a more than 80 ft ascent with five possible stops along the way 18 PIT QUARRY March 2010 www pitandquarry com