Eriez will feature its latest material handling technology June 23-25 at Hillhead in Buxton, England.

Highlighting the company’s offerings at the show is the B‑HC high-capacity electromagnetic vibratory feeder.

The company will run a live demonstration of its 75B-HC model at Stand F7. The display will also feature a conveyor system equipped with an Eriez metal detector.

Eriez’s display will also include one of the company’s suspended magnets, along with additional material handling solutions.

Designed to extend the capabilities of the Eriez B-Series range, Eriez says its B‑HC feeders provide high-capacity electromagnetic feeding while maintaining precise control for demanding bulk material handling applications. The feeder incorporates a high-power electromagnetic drive with a rare-earth armature, applying force to the tray in both forward and reverse directions to produce controlled, linear material flow.

“The B‑HC line has been developed to meet growing demand for higher-capacity vibratory feeding solutions without compromising control,” says Clay O’Dana, global product manager for vibratory equipment at Eriez. “It enables operators to manage higher throughputs while maintaining the consistent, precise material flow required in demanding applications.”

According to Eriez, the coil-and-magnet assembly is encapsulated in epoxy to protect against dust and moisture and to eliminate coil movement, thereby improving reliability and extending service life. A compact, energy-efficient AC control system with accelerometer feedback provides precise, variable-speed feed rate control, Eriez says, while reducing power consumption and maintenance requirements.

The feeders are suited to head-load applications beneath hoppers, metering material to downstream equipment such as conveyors, screens, crushers and elevators.

Eriez specialists will be available throughout Hillhead to discuss application requirements and system solutions.

Related: Hillhead returning in June with 600-plus exhibitors

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The agency says the alliances are designed to provide education, training and technical assistance that will help protect the health and safety of workers in industrial mineral mines and processing facilities, as well as in lime plants and quarries.

EMA alliance

Through its alliance with EMA, MSHA says it will work with the association on initiatives such as conducting and publishing case studies of worker injury and illness, as well as collaborating and sharing best practices to improve operator and contractor safety and health in mines and processing facilities.

“Protecting the health and safety of miners requires consistent collaboration, clear communication and a shared commitment to continuous improvements,” says Wayne Palmer, MSHA’s assistant secretary. “By renewing our alliance with the Essential Minerals Association, we are strengthening our ability to deliver high-quality training, technical assistance and practical tools that help prevent accidents before they happen. This partnership reinforces MSHA’s longstanding mission to ensure that every miner has a safe workplace and every family has peace of mind.”

Chris Greissing, president of EMA, is also excited about the alliance’s renewal.

“The minerals industry has a proud tradition of looking out for the people who work every day to produce the minerals that are essential to our daily lives,” Greissing says. “Renewing our alliance with MSHA is a reaffirmation of that commitment. When industry and government work together on worker safety – sharing data, developing training tools and talking openly about what works – the results speak for themselves.”

NLA alliance

MSHA says its alliance with NLA, meanwhile, will facilitate the sharing of injury and citation data, as well as technical expertise that will help identify hazards in lime plans and quarries.

Together, MSHA and NLA will develop education and training initiatives for lime plants and quarries that will improve workplace health and safety.

Initiatives the organization will collaborate on will include conducting and publishing case studies detailing the incidence of worker injury and illness, sharing safety best practices, and collaborating on emergency response and rescue and recovery techniques for lime and quarry facilities.

“Our renewed partnership with the National Lime Association underscores MSHA’s unwavering commitment to protect the health and safety of miners across the country,” Palmer says. “By renewing this alliance, we are expanding the tools, training and collaborative support needed to prevent accidents at lime plants and quarries. Every miner deserves to go home safe at the end of the day, and this agreement reinforces the shared responsibility we all have in making that a reality.”

William Herz, executive director at NLA says the alliance’s continuation will provide several benefits for those in the lime industry.

“We are excited to continue and strengthen the partnership between the National Lime Association and the Mine Safety & Health Administration through this renewed alliance agreement,” Herz says. “This collaboration reflects our shared commitment to advancing worker health and safety, strengthening education and training opportunities across the lime industry, and fostering open communication about the challenges and opportunities facing our sector. We look forward to working together to support safer operations, share technical expertise and promote continuous improvement throughout the industry.”

According to MSHA, its alliance program helps the agency build cooperative relationships with organizations committed to workplace safety and health. Alliance partners work with MSHA to provide miners and mine operators with information, guidance and resources to build a culture of safety.

Related: MSHA renews alliance with NSSGA

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May’s loadings were also 5.4 percent below the month’s five-year average.

On the year, LCA says the U.S. limestone trade is at 3.9 million tons – down 14.9 percent from 2025 and 15.7 percent below the five-year average.

As of April, Canadian ports are no longer supplying information to LCA regarding limestone shipments.

Related: Great Lakes limestone trade down in April

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The agreement covers Superior’s portable and modular equipment for crushing, screening, washing and conveying applications. Commonwealth will also support customers with aftermarket parts, field service and technical assistance.

“Successful OEM-distributor relationships are built on shared goals, mutual trust and talented people working together to create value for customers,” says Gary Guthrie, president of Commonwealth Equipment. “Throughout our discussions with the Superior team, it became clear that their passion, ambition and commitment to customer success closely align with our own culture and with the values shared by our other partners.”

The partnership includes a significant inventory commitment from Commonwealth, with plans to stock a variety of Superior equipment – including Liberty jaws and Patriot cones, Guardian horizontal screens and TeleStacker conveyors.

“For producers across the region, this partnership means more equipment on the ground, more parts close to home and more people available to keep operations running,” says John Garrison, vice president of sales at Superior Industries. “Commonwealth has the scale, local presence and service capabilities to respond quickly, giving Superior equipment owners and operators a strong partner focused on keeping production on track.”

Related: Superior names Northeast territory sales manager

<p>The post Superior adds dealer in Mid-Atlantic first appeared on Pit & Quarry.</p>

Every operation must evaluate its current benching strategy against regional geologic variations to determine if the existing approach supports or hinders material control and blasting performance.

In some operations, a known geologic boundary can be integrated into a single bench. For example, if a limestone deposit has a 5-ft. seam of chert above 50 ft. of clean limestone, the two may be blasted together by adjusting the stemming and timing. The chert can be kept relatively intact and fall to the back of the muckpile, while the limestone is projected forward.

Still, when chert and limestone are interbedded through the upper 20 ft., followed by 30 ft. of chert-free, this level of control often isn’t possible and typically requires two separate benches to keep materials segregated.

Major structural features, such as thick mud seams or cave systems, also demand separate benches. A 5-ft. mud seam through the middle of a 40-ft. highwall may best be handled by splitting the bench, ensuring the seam lies at the top of the lower shot where its influence on burden and timing can be better managed.

The orientation of joints and bedding also plays a significant role. Mines should evaluate whether the direction of advance interacts favorably with the dominant structural planes. Adjusting the mining direction to intersect joint sets at an angle can reduce throw issues, high toes or face slabbing.

Although blast design elements like stiffness ratio and subdrill depth are essential, the geological context must always come first. Bench height and orientation should be driven by the deposit’s structure, not just production goals. Blasters cannot design effectively if the bench itself does not reflect the rock mass conditions.

Where blast performance wins the day

Consistent blast performance is rarely limited by explosive selection. It is almost always the product of how well geology is understood and accounted for.

Variability in structure and rock type, when not recognized and adapted for, is the leading cause of inconsistent fragmentation, irregular muckpile shape and performance issues across the pit.

Structural features such as joints, bedding planes, seams and voids can either aid or obstruct fragmentation. In highly jointed or bedded rock, blasts may do little more than bump rock apart along preexisting weaknesses, limiting control and throw. Worse, these structures can interrupt radial cracking entirely, causing uneven breakage and leaving behind oversize.

These same geologic features directly influence muckpile shape. In structurally complex zones, the intended blast pattern geometry may be overridden by natural planes of weakness, resulting in uneven heave, thrown toes or stacked craters. Understanding this and adapting to it is what separates skilled blasters from operators simply loading to a fixed plan.

Structural weakness is also the leading geologic cause of lost explosive confinement. Gas leaks through seams and voids reduce local energy transmission, causing underbreak, while simultaneously projecting material farther than intended in the weakened zone. The result is a dual hazard: poor fragmentation in some areas and dangerous flyrock in others.

Explosive type plays a secondary role here. What matters most is hole condition and loading strategy. In highly weathered or jointed ground, borehole liners can help retain explosive energy, though they limit visibility into where explosive slump and venting occurs, making inert decking more difficult to target without detailed drill logs.

Ultimately, every good blast starts with good drilling and logging of the rock mass to understand the geologic conditions for the blast. Structural complexity is not a complication to be ignored, but rather the first design variable a blaster must navigate.

Good blasters must understand how to make necessary field adjustments to work with the geology on every shot, producing the fragmentation and muckpile profile the operation requires.

Information for this article derived from Pit & Quarry University. Learn more at pitandquarry.com/pqu.

Related: Inside today’s emulsion explosives

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1. Volumes are in a good place. Yes, the first quarter is historically the slowest of the four in terms of demand, but many of the industry’s public producers, most of whom reported their latest quarterly earnings as Pit & Quarry went to press this month, highlighted shipment growth at the start of 2026.

First-quarter aggregate shipments were up 5 percent at Vulcan Materials, the nation’s top crushed stone producer. And they were up 12 percent at Martin Marietta, the second-largest crushed stone producer in the U.S.

Others touting volume gains in Q1 were CRH (up 14 percent), Amrize (up 14 percent), Knife River (up 26 percent) and Arcosa (up 4 percent).

Count Granite as yet another producer whose first-quarter aggregate volumes were up.

“Demand for both aggregates and asphalt has been strong, resulting in volume growth and pricing increases that have met our expectations year to date,” says Kyle Larkin, president and CEO of Granite.

2. Pricing continues to rise – but at a lesser pace than volumes. While some producers point to first-quarter price increases as an effective tool they continue to leverage, pricing gains may not be keeping pace with volume growth.

Still, top producers continue to find ways to leverage price to their benefit.

“One of the saving graces has been the ability to increase prices,” says George Reddin, managing director of FMI Capital Advisors, who offers insights on Episode 66 of P&Q’s Drilling Deeper podcast (see drillingdeeperpodcast.com). “We had inflation coming out of COVID – it gave us cover to get increased prices. People are getting smarter with the data analytics they’ve got, and price leadership is more effective.

“When leaders in the market move their price to cover themselves for the increased costs, the market is following,” Reddin adds.

3. Producers continue to exude confidence despite new concerns. Sure, weather slowed some producers early this year. It wasn’t nearly the factor it was a year ago, but Heidelberg Materials, for one, cited it as a first-quarter deterrent in the Northeast.

Martin Marietta, on the other hand, noted that it got a head start this year in the Midwest and Colorado, underscoring that every aggregate business is local.

Of course, weather-related headwinds may feel trivial this summer if disruption in the Strait of Hormuz continues to pressure oil and fuel markets. Producers and manufacturers touched on this topic at April’s Pit & Quarry Roundtable & Conference. It’s a development they’ll be watching closely and hoping for relief on, as it could significantly change the industry narrative in the months to come.

Related: Resilience drives growth as industry leaders look to 2026

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QFS will supply the region with IRock equipment and service on the equipment.

“You won’t find a more dedicated team of sales representatives and field technicians, which is one of the many reasons I’m so excited about this new partnership,” says Tim Smith, director of sales at IRock. “I truly believe customers across New England will experience unparalleled support and professionalism from the team at QFS.”

QFS is a full-service equipment dealer serving contractors, municipalities, recyclers, forestry crews, material handling operations and heavy-equipment owners across New England. Founded in 2005, QFS currently has locations in South Hadley and Brockton, Massachusetts.

QFS offers equipment sales, rentals, OEM parts, transportation, warranty support and both in-shop and field service for a range of heavy equipment applications. The addition of IRock expands QFS’s offering into crushing, screening and conveying solutions for customers throughout Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.

“Crushing and screening equipment is a natural fit for QFS,” says Nick Moynihan, president of QFS. “Our customers are already doing the kind of work that demands these machines. We know the equipment, we know the support it takes to keep it running and IRock gives us another strong product line that fits the way our team works. We’re excited to bring that to our market and stand behind it the same way we stand behind every machine we sell.”

Related: IRock adds Smith as sales director

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BKT named Minoo Mehta as head of the company’s U.S. operations.

Previously, Mehta served BKT as managing director of U.S. operations and, most recently, as senior advisor for the truck and bus radial business. BKT says Mehta has played an instrumental role in strengthening the company’s presence in the U.S. and advancing key growth initiatives across multiple market segments.

In his new role, Mehta will oversee all U.S. operations, focusing on accelerating growth, enhancing customer engagement, strengthening organizational capabilities and supporting the long-term strategic objectives of BKT in what the company says is one of its most important global markets.

BKT says this appointment reflects the company’s focus on strengthening its presence in key international markets and delivering value to customers.

Related: IRock adds Smith as sales director

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Industry observers looking for clearer guidance on the extent of agency enforcement jurisdiction were frustrated by the court’s narrow focus.

The case began in 2019 when an MSHA inspector visited a mine to terminate a citation issued on a haul truck operated by KC Transport. The truck was not on the mine site and had been taken to a repair facility – a parking lot and two shipping containers –located 1,000 ft. off a haul road, about a mile from the mine.

While at the repair facility, the inspector issued citations for two additional haul trucks also used to haul coal for the mine operator. KC Transport used the facility for both mining and non-mining services. KC Transport had no ownership interest in the mine.

KC Transport challenged MSHA’s assertion of jurisdiction over trucks located at a repair facility off mine property. The key question was whether the facility met the definition of a “mine” under the Federal Mine Safety & Health Act of 1977 (Mine Act).

Specifically, focusing on the pertinent language of section C of that definition in the Mine Act, was the repair facility “used in, or to be used in, or resulting from” extraction or milling.

An administrative law judge found MSHA had jurisdiction, but the Federal Mine Safety & Health Review Commission (FMSHRC) overturned that decision. MSHA appealed to the D.C. Circuit, which remanded the case back to the review commission to evaluate whether appropriate deference was accorded to MSHA’s jurisdiction determination under the Chevron line of cases.

KC Transport immediately appealed the D.C. Circuit remand decision to the Supreme Court. When Chevron was overturned in Loper Bright Enterprises, the Supreme Court sent the case back to the D.C. Circuit to apply its best reading of the Mine Act.

In this second evaluation, a 2-1 majority of the D.C. Circuit focused closely on the case facts and refused to limit MSHA’s jurisdiction to mine property (extraction sites, appurtenant roads and preparation sites). However, the circuit court also rejected a limitless reading of the term “used in, or to be used in, or resulting from” mining.

Instead, the court ruled that a facility is a “mine” under section C when it is “necessarily connected with the use and operation of extracting, milling or processing coal and other minerals.”

Applying that test to the facts of this case, the court emphasized several factors:

■ The repair facility’s close proximity to the mine

■ The facility was built with the mine operator’s permission

■ Sixty percent of the facility’s services were mine-related

■ The trucks operated solely on mine haul roads, extraction sites and at a preparation plant.

In short, the court concluded that “[u]nder the best reading of the statute, a facility that is this close to extraction sites and a preparation plant and used to service trucks that routinely haul coal between those locations, and which is built specifically for this purpose is a ‘mine.’”

The court declined to embrace MSHA’s position that trucks, in and of themselves, constituted mines. The majority explained that the language of the Mine Act did not enable a more expansive reading and that they needed to maintain some flexibility for future scenarios.

Specifically, the majority stated: “Admittedly, the statute’s text does not provide a framework from which regulated parties can perfectly predict the scope of MSHA’s jurisdiction with respect to all movable objects that are, have been, or could be used in mining. While that may be frustrating for KC Transport and similar businesses servicing mines, we have no need to reach all of those questions today. Not every principle essential to the effective administration of a statute can or should be cast immediately into the mold of a general rule. Some principles must await their own development, while others must be adjusted to meet, unforeseeable situations.”

This decision leaves many jurisdictional boundaries unclear – specifically with regard to MSHA’s enforcement reach to facilities with slightly different characteristics and different percentage of mine-related activities.

Bill Doran is with the national labor, employment and safety law firm Ogletree Deakins. He can be reached at william.doran@ogletree.com.

Related: MSHA’s 2027 budget signals leaner staffing, tech-focused enforcement

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