Southern Nevada contractors scooped up the rights to millions of tons of sand and gravel today in a government auction that netted more than $10 million in sales.
The Bureau of Land Management sold extraction contracts for Lone Mountain Community Pit, a U.S. government-owned site in northwest Las Vegas.
The auction, for 9.6 million tons of sand and gravel, generated $10.7 million in proceeds, officials said.
It was expected to haul in at least $9 million if everything sold.
More on the Lone Mountain Community Pit
Sand and gravel can be used in the construction of highways, high-rise buildings, power plants, airport runways and bridges, among other things.
As far as auctions go, the BLM is probably best known in Las Vegas for selling raw land to the highest bidders, normally homebuilders. Agency officials used to auction raw materials all the time, too, but demand dried up, so they switched to direct, noncompetitive sales.
But now, with the once-decimated construction industry rebounding, demand for raw materials has returned, “so that’s why we’re moving back to auctions,” Kirsten Cannon, a BLM spokeswoman in Las Vegas, said last month.
The Lone Mountain Community Pit is off Lone Mountain Road west of the 215 Beltway. Today’s buyers, according to the BLM, included:
° Las Vegas Paving — 4 million tons for $4 million
° Mel Clark Inc. — 2.5 million tons for $3.2 million
° Wells Cargo — 2 million tons for $2 million
° Boulder Sand and Gravel — 600,000 tons for $708,000
° Rice Construction — 388,000 tons for $679,000
° Hollywood Gravel — 100,000 tons for $115,000