PORT McNEILL – The unique blessings of Mother Nature coupled with solid business acumen have made Polaris Materials Corporation an industry leading international provider of construction aggregates – just ask the City of Los Angeles and a host of other offshore customers that purchase its range of sand, gravel, and other construction materials.
“The company was founded in 1999 and spent several years exploring for projects like the Orca Quarry near Port McNeill that was discovered by our founder, Marco Romero in partnership with local First Nations, the Kwakiutl Band and the ‘Namgis First Nation. The geology, shape and texture of the sand and gravel in the deposit lends itself to making high performance concrete,” explained Nicholas Van Dyk, the Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Development at Polaris Materials Corporation (PMC).
With a permitted capacity of 6.6 million tons of material per year, construction of the Orca Quarry was completed in February 2007. Polaris Materials Corporation has an 88 percent ownership share of Orca Sand & Gravel with the local ‘Namgis First Nation owning the remaining 12 percent.
Considered one of the most efficient operations in North America, the Orca Quarry produces premium quality aggregate that is noted for its performance in high strength concrete, and as a result is in demand in regions such as California with its high seismic code requirements.
“The main deposit of the quarry is essentially a prehistoric river bed that accumulated masses of sand and gravel as the glacier run off flowed into the ocean. At the end of the last Ice Age, as the glaciers receded from Vancouver Island, the land mass was actually about 100 meters lower than it is now, and the Island rose up as the ice withdrew. As we understand it, the entire deposit was placed there when that part of the Island was underwater,” Van Dyk explained.
In essence the Orca Quarry is a large and contiguous swath of sand and gravel materials that fortuitously for PMC are of a consistent and high-quality material composition – making it the ideal building material for its growing client base. Integral to the operation, Polaris has constructed a dedicated ship loading facility capable of loading Panamax class vessels (the largest class of ship able to pass through the Panama Canal with a carrying capacity of approximately 80,000 tons) in a 24-hour period.
In October PMC was acquired by Texas based US Concrete Inc., a major construction materials supplier in the United States, which will provide Polaris with improved access to the American marketplace.
“We are extremely excited to close the acquisition of Polaris. This acquisition will enable us to self-supply a majority of our current Northern California aggregate requirements and to further expand our footprint into other supply constrained markets along the West Coast, including Southern California,” explained US Concrete’s President, CEO and Vice Chairman, William J. Sandbrook at the time of the announced sale.
“The addition of Polaris to the US Concrete family is further evidence of our commitment to increased vertical integration into aggregates to capitalize on attractive long-term growth opportunities for our shareholders. We look forward to working with our First Nations partners in the Orca Quarry, the Kwakiutl Band and ‘Namgis First Nation, as the strength of those relationships are a vital part of the success of the business, today and for the future.”
Solidifying Polaris’ footprint in the United States will help ensure its stability and growth in the future. “The offshore markets are essential to the company with about 98 percent of all of our sales going outside of the country. The quality of the material coupled with the ease and economy of scale in shipping and integrated logistics chain makes the gravel coming out of the Orca Quarry very attractive in several markets,” Van Dyk said.