Churchville, Maryland
Guided Tour
Currently, the quarry is about 250 feet from the surface; each bench in the quarry is about 50 feet.
Safety precautions are taken, both within the quarry and throughout the surrounding area. Special consideration is given to neighbors of the quarry; berms are built around the site to decrease the noise, and regulations are in effect to limit blasting times to three times a week, between the hours of 12:00pm and 2pm.
After holes are drilled into the rock,
fertilizer, and diesel fuel, blasting caps are re-used to blast the rock
from the Earth. Seismographs and the Richter Scale are reviewed,
since both are used to determine the strength of the explosions in the
quarry.
The operation is run mainly by computer, every little manpower, approximatley 35 employees, is need to run the entire quarry. In the picture below, you can see the trucks that haul the blasted rock.
All machines except for the trucks and loaders, are run by electricity,a nd the average monthly electric bill of $40,000 is compared with household electric bills.
There are thirteen sizes of rock produced, ranging from the smallest stone dust to the largest rip that is used on the jetties at ocean city and Assateague.
Some of the James Run Amphibolite rock quarried at LaFarge was used to build local houses and buildings, for example, the Trinity Church in Churchville, Maryland.
