48 | Crushing it in the quarrying business Central Aggregates supplies the Queenstown market from its gravel pit on Fairlight Station, while the other sites supply the rest of the southern region. Central Aggregates T T Hugh de Lacy “The market in Southland is very contract-driven, and the distribution of the aggregate contracts depends on what companies win the roading contracts, but we also supply the Queenstown market.” REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT When Downer decided to offload its quarrying and crushing investments in Southland two years ago, Alex Hartman was suddenly out of a job, so he and his former boss, Peter Morgan, bought the consents and the gear and set up Central Aggregates in Winton. With alluvial gravel pits dotted around Southland, including a site on Fairlight Station near Queenstown, Central Aggregates crushes and screens between 150,000 and 180,000 tonnes of aggregates a year. And though relatively new to a well-serviced Southland market, the company has calved out a market share for itself that stretches from the deep south to Central Otago. “We’re a fairly small player in the market, but it’s a big pond and we punch above our weight,” Alex says. “The market in Southland is very contract-driven, and the distribution of the aggregate contracts depends on what companies win the roading contracts, but we also supply the Queenstown market, and that’s in great heart always because of the amount of development going on in the Wakatipu. “Demand there is such at the moment that we can barely keep up with supply.” Central Aggregates supplies the Queenstown market from its gravel pit on Fairlight Station, while the other sites supply the rest of the southern region. Alex went into the quarrying industry fresh out of school at the age of 17, and his first boss at Southern Aggregates was Peter. Alex went on to become Downer’s Southland Quarry Manager, and when the big national construction company decided quarrying and crushing in Southland was no longer its thing, he teamed up with his old boss to buy its assets. “Peter gave me my first job, and 17 years later we’ve come back together to run Central Aggregates,” Alex says. Alex handles the operational side of the business with its three staff and range of crushing and loading equipment, while Peter and wife Margie do the vital background work, such as Business Management, administration, pricing, programming and dealing with consents and so on. “It’s getting harder to secure aggregate resources, or rather it’s the difficulties that are put in your way to extract them. “There are always more hoops to jump through even for a smaller-volume consent,” he says. As well as the usual quarrying equipment, Central Aggregates also runs a Western Star truck with a 3R8 TRT transporter. This is their recent purchase with plenty of history attached. This gives the company additional flexibility to relocate equipment quickly and efficiently whenever needed. Alex has Volvo as his preferred brand for loaders and diggers, and the next purchase will probably be a Volvo loader. “I’ve always been a fan of Volvo after working with a lot of their equipment over the years,” he says. For crushing and screening equipment he likes the PowerScreen brand, “if for no other reason than I’ve been using it for years, and it’s never let me down yet.” The company’s base in Winton reflects the “Central” in the company’s name, with the town being at the cross-roads of major roads accessing the whole of Southland, while the Fairlight Station site brings the booming Queenstown and Central Otago markets within reach. MOBILE AGGREGATE CRUSHING, GRAVEL CARTAGE AND HEAVY HAULAGE WITHIN SOUTHLAND AND CENTRAL OTAGO DEMOLITION WASTE RECYCLING WE HAVE SEVERAL PITS AROUND SOUTHLAND FOR EITHER CONTRACT CRUSHING OR WITH STOCK READY FOR SALE • Bulk Earthworks • Effluent Ponds • Earth dams • Gravel Extraction • Pond Lining (PVC and GSL) • Paddock Levelling • Land Development • Root Raking • Pipe Laying • Roads • Cable and Pipe Ploughing • General Roading • Lane Maintenance • Dairy Lanes • Tree Stump Removal • Forest Roads • Quarry Development • Commercial and Domestic Siteworks Proudly Associated with Central Aggregates PO Box 112 Winton 9741 Phone: 03 236 6053 admin@lintoncontracting.co.nz lintoncontracting.co.nz
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