Vulcan Materials Company () is an American company based in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

. It is principally engaged in the production, distribution and sale of construction materials. Vulcan is the largest producer of construction materials, primarily gravel, crushed stone, and sand, and employs approximately 12,000 people at over 400 facilities. Vulcan serves 22 states, the

District of Columbia Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

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Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...

and the

U.S. Virgin Islands The United States Virgin Islands, officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and a territory of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located ...

. Vulcan's innovative Crescent Market project led to construction of a large quarry and deep water seaport on the

Yucatán Peninsula The Yucatán Peninsula ( , ; ) is a large peninsula in southeast Mexico and adjacent portions of Belize and Guatemala. The peninsula extends towards the northeast, separating the Gulf of Mexico to the north and west of the peninsula from the C ...

of Mexico, just south of Cancun. This quarry supplies Tampa, New Orleans, Houston, and Brownsville, Texas, as well as other Gulf coast seaports, with crushed limestone via large 62,000-ton self-discharging ships.

History

In the late 1980s Vulcan acquired Reed Crushed Stone, near

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

. On November 16, 1998, Vulcan announced it was purchasing CalMat Company, a producer of asphalt and ready-mixed concrete based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, for $760 million in cash. On June 7, 2005, Vulcan completed the sale of its chemicals business, known as Vulcan Chemicals, to Occidental Chemical Corporation. The sale of assets included Vulcan's

chloralkali The chloralkali process (also chlor-alkali and chlor alkali) is an industrial process for the electrolysis of sodium chloride (NaCl) solutions. It is the technology used to produce chlorine and sodium hydroxide (caustic soda), which are commodit ...

plants in Wichita, Kansas; Geismar, Louisiana; and Port Edwards, Wisconsin, as well as Vulcan Chemicals' joint venture located in Geismar, Louisiana. In 2005, Vulcan acquired 11 aggregates operations and five asphalt plants in Arizona, Georgia, Indiana and Tennessee. On February 19, 2007, Vulcan announced that it would buy stone and cement producer Florida Rock Industries for $4.7 billion. Vulcan completed the acquisition of Florida Rock on November 16, 2007. In March 2007, Vulcan announced that it had been named to

Fortune Magazine ''Fortune'' (stylized in all caps) is an American global business magazine headquartered in New York City. It is published by Fortune Media Group Holdings, a global business media company. The publication was founded by Henry Luce in 1929. T ...

's list of ''Most Admired Companies'' for the sixth time. The company was ranked first in its industry sector, "Building Materials, Glass." Overall, Vulcan ranked among the top 10 companies in the

Fortune 1000 {{location map+ , United States , float=right , width=400, relief=1 , caption=''Fortune'' 1000 company headquarters locations. Top 20 companies labeled, places= {{location map~ , United States , lat= 36.365378 , long= -94.217629 , label= Walmart, ...

for both long-term investment and

social responsibility Social responsibility is an ethical concept in which a person works and cooperates with other people and organizations for the benefit of the community. An organization can demonstrate social responsibility in several ways, for instance, by do ...

. In January 2014, Vulcan Materials announced they would be selling their Florida Rock Industry (cement and ready-mixed concrete) plants and equipment to Cementos Argos, of Colombia. In March 2014, Vulcan was able to fully divest these properties to Cementos Argos. In January 2018, Vulcan Materials was found to be partially responsible for the

Bayou Corne sinkhole The Bayou Corne sinkhole () was created from a collapsed underground salt dome cavern operated by Texas Brine Company and owned by Occidental Petroleum. The sinkhole, located near the community of Bayou Corne in northern Assumption Parish, Lo ...

, along with

Occidental Petroleum Occidental Petroleum Corporation (often abbreviated Oxy in reference to its ticker symbol and logo) is an American company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration in the United States and the Middle East as well as petrochemical manufacturing in the ...

and Texas Brine Company. In June 2021, Vulcan Materials announced they would be acquiring US Concrete (USCR) for $74 per share, a 30% premium on the date of the announcement. U.S. Concrete was formed in 1999, with its headquarters in Euless, TX. The deal is valued at $1.3 billion. The acquisition will allow for integrated expansion of Vulcan and make the subsidiary debt-free with adequate working capital. The deal has been approved by both boards and will close in the second half of 2021. In early 2023 after being accused by president

Andrés Manuel López Obrador Andrés Manuel López Obrador (; born 13 November 1953), also known by his initials AMLO, is a Mexican former politician, political scientist, public administrator and writer who served as the 65th president of Mexico from 2018 to 2024. He se ...

of exporting materials from Mexico without a permit, the Mexican military seized a marine terminal belonging to Vulcan leading to a diplomatic spat between the US and Mexico.

References

External links

Vulcan Materials website

''U.S. v. Vulcan Materials Co. and Florida Rock Industries Inc.''
a US Supreme court case {{authority control Mining companies of the United States Non-renewable resource companies established in 1909 Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Companies based in Birmingham, Alabama Manufacturing companies established in 1909 1909 establishments in Alabama