Gravel firm to buy rare private parcel in Long Beach port

Gravel firm to buy rare private parcel in Long Beach port A construction-material aggregate subsidiary of Vancouver, B.C.-based Polaris Minerals Corp. said today it has entered into an agreement to purchase a 12.6-acre site within the Port of Long Beach.
   Eagle Rock Aggregates Inc., a 70 percent owned subsidiary of Polaris, will utilize the property to store and distribute sand and gravel from the firm's Orca Quarry on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. The site will also be used to handle crushed granite from its proposed Eagle Rock Quarry in northern Los Angeles when the quarry begins production, and if suitable, possibly ready-mix concrete and asphalt production.
   The Long Beach parcel sits within the Long Beach port but is not controlled by the municipally controlled port. It is one of only a handful of privately owned plots within the jurisdiction of the City of Long Beach Harbor Department, which manages the port.
   Under terms of the agreement, ERA has 120 days to conduct due diligence before closing the acquisition, during which ERA will evaluate the suitability of the site to support ready-mix concrete and asphalt plants. This land is the site of a former industrial facility that will likely require some remediation.
   Marco Romero, president and chief executive officer of Polaris, said the Long Beach parcel is 'a unique opportunity for ERA to acquire an extremely valuable and uniquely located port site.'
   Parent-firm Polaris is exclusively focused on the development of quarries and the production of construction aggregates on Vancouver Island for marine transport to urban markets on the West Coast of North America. Last year, Polaris began shipping sand and gravel from the Orca Quarry to San Francisco Bay, Vancouver, and Hawaii.
   ERA is a wholly owned subsidiary of Eagle Rock Materials Ltd. and the California marketing subsidiary for Polaris products from the Orca and future Eagle Rock quarries. Besides Polaris' stake in Eagle Rock Materials, the remaining 30 percent owned by First Nation tribes of Vancouver Island.