Due Diligence for Quarry and Aggregate Acquisitions

When an aggregate, sand, gravel, or crushed-stone property changes hands, the spread between what’s being sold and what’s actually in the ground — and what the operation can really produce — is where deals are won, lost, or quietly bled out over the years that follow. Aggregate Consulting provides independent due diligence for buyers, investors, lenders, family operators acquiring competitors, and the counsel advising them. The work is the same one we’d do for ourselves before signing a check.

What a Due Diligence Engagement Covers

A complete due diligence is a structured review of every element that determines whether a property can deliver what it claims. We tailor the scope to the deal — sometimes the question is “is the reserve real,” sometimes “can the plant make this product,” sometimes everything. The areas we cover:

Reserves — independent verification of in-place tonnage by stratum, recovery factors, overburden, and salable material; reconciliation against the seller’s claims. (See Reserve Valuation for the deeper reserve methodology.)
Geology — geologic review of the deposit and surrounding stratigraphy, including geophysical interpretation where data warrants. Supported by consulting geologist and geophysicist David Hale. (See Geology Services.)
Permitting — mining permit status, expiration dates, conditions of approval, compliance history, and the practical timeline and cost of any pending permit work; what’s permitted vs. what’s actually being done
Access — surface access, easements, haul routes, road weight limits, and any encumbrances that affect getting product to market
Market radius — defensible delivered-price analysis for the operation’s actual product mix into the actual served market; understanding competing producers, freight rates, and customer concentration
Plant condition — physical condition of crushing, screening, washing, conveyor, and stockpile systems; remaining useful life, deferred maintenance, parts and labor exposure
Production claims — testing whether claimed production rates can actually be sustained given the plant, the deposit, the labor pool, and the surge capacity
Operating costs — building a real cost-per-ton from operating data, not seller-supplied figures; identifying cost line items that look out of line with comparable operations
Title and land position — mineral rights, surface rights, leases, lease term, royalty obligations, reversionary or escalation clauses (royalty work coordinates with Royalty & Lease Advisory)
Capex — capital expenditures required to maintain, expand, or replace plant capacity over the deal’s projection horizon
Environmental constraints — wetlands, endangered species, groundwater, reclamation obligations, neighboring land uses, and any open notices of violation or pending enforcement
Deal risk — the things that, if they go wrong, turn a profitable deal into a loss; what is and is not the buyer’s exposure under the deal structure being negotiated

What You Receive

A written due diligence report keyed to the deal — findings, prioritized risks, areas where further investigation is warranted, and a clear statement of whether the operation can deliver what’s been represented. The report is built to support a buy/no-buy decision, to inform price negotiation, and — if needed — to be defensible to a lender or in a post-close dispute.

When We Engage

Due diligence engagements work best when we are brought in early — before the letter of intent has narrowed the negotiation. A quick desktop screening can save weeks of work on a deal that’s not worth chasing. Where a deal advances, we can phase the engagement: desktop review first, then site visit, then technical workpapers — releasing the buyer’s capital from analysis as the deal becomes more likely to close.

Why an Operator’s Perspective Matters

John M. Pitts, Jr. has spent 36 years owning, designing, building, and operating sand, gravel, crushed stone, and dredge-based operations across the country. The advice we give on an acquisition is what we’d give ourselves if we were the buyer. We don’t dress up a deal that should be killed, and we don’t kill a deal that should be done — we tell you what the operation actually is and let you decide.

Discuss a Due Diligence Engagement

Call 940-341-2011 or contact us to discuss a quarry, sand and gravel property, or aggregate operation under consideration. We treat every conversation as confidential by default.