Cochrane Aggregates is located in the Town of Cochrane at 900 River Heights Drive (SW 36-25-04 W5M) off of James Walker Trail. The pit supplies materials to the Town of Cochrane and Calgary area. Given the volume of aggregate material remaining within the pit, it is expected that there is about 11 years of operational life remaining at the site.
Cochrane Aggregates is regulated under Alberta Environment and Protected Areas. Sand and gravel extraction at the site is approved under the Alberta Code of Practice for Pits and development of the pit is approved under the Town of Cochrane.
The operation extracts and processes sands and gravels of varying sizes and produces aggregate products, such as washed rock, crushed rock, road base, concrete, and sand products, for the Cochrane and Calgary market. The operation annually produces approximately 0.5 million tonnes and is expected to ramp up to 1.1 million tonnes.
Heidelberg has approximately 51,000 employees globally and has operated in North America for more than a century, and specifically in the Calgary Metropolitan Area since 1954. Currently, Heidelberg operates the nearby Spy Hill site which produces aggregate, concrete, and pre-cast pipe products within the east half of Section 27-025-02 W5M.
Heidelberg provides aggregates to customers in the construction business throughout Western Canada and locations in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Heidelberg has operated in the Calgary region since the 1950s as a major supplier of all types of screened, crushed, and washed aggregate products. Heidelberg’s sand and gravel is used in ready-mix concrete, precast concrete production, road and building construction, landscaping, and a variety of specialty aggregates applications. With award winning reclamation and public amenity projects across North America and Canada, including the Sechelt Mine and Granville Island concrete plant in British Columbia, Heidelberg has significant experience operating its facilities in harmony with its neighbors.
Over decades of operating in the Calgary Metropolitan Area, Heidelberg has invested in its current operations through the incorporation of new innovative technologies to improve sustainable operating practices and reclaimed depleted resources to achieve biodiversity and community objectives. As an example, the Inland Athletic Park located directly southeast of Heidelberg’s Spy Hill site is a former gavel pit mined by Heidelberg during the 1980s and 1990s and was redeveloped into its new use in collaboration with the City of Calgary, Alberta Transportation and Heidelberg.
Heidelberg places sustainability at the core of operations. The company is driving the decarbonization of our sector, embracing circularity to recycle and reuse materials, and contributing to a nature-positive world through an industry-leading biodiversity program and sustainable water management.