Mining Company buys quarry, hires local graduate
The new owner of the Jenkins Quarry brings a world of blasting experience.
Anthony Konya, owner of Konya Mining Company, has purchased the property off Highway 248 in Jenkins and has big plans to level the facility, update equipment and provide greater service to the Barry County area and beyond.
Konya hails from the Cleveland area, born to parents who immigrated from the Hungarian slums in the 1960s. He received his bachelor’s, master’s and PhD in mining and explosive engineering at Missouri S&T in Rolla, where his love for the Ozarks took hold.
Since graduating, Konya has traveled the world on precision mining and blasting jobs on virtually every continent.
“I have worked on the Panama Canal, Kentucky Locks, the California Reservoir and Folsom Dam,” he said. “I’ve worked in the underground silver mines in Guatamala and a phosphate mine in Saudi Arabia, and we’ve done blasting in Mongolia, where I tried to ride a camel and got bucked off.”
Through all that travel, Konya said the Ozarks has always been calling.
“I’ve always wanted to get back to Missouri, and we’ve done a lot of critical infrastructure blasting and mining in Missouri,” Konya said. “The blast side is always fun, but the big thing is being around people. I have traveled all over and met a lot of people, and our guys are down to Earth and good to work with. They are motivated, hard workers, and we want to help them build. That was part of the culture in Rolla, and the Heartland Division will represent that — the geographic location and those good qualities in people.”
That Heartland Division is the company’s newest investment, and Konya is looking toward locals to lead the way.
“We hired Juliette Okel, [a 2019 Cassville graduate], as our project manager, and we found the Jenkins Quarry and bought it to start our Heartland Division, which will likely have offices based in Cassville,” Konya said. “Juliette will run the site.”
Along with his connection to the Ozarks, Konya said the ability to meet local needs was another reason he pursued the Jenkins Quarry.
“The Cassville market has been underserved in aggregate needs, especially with some local excavating companies like DYNO Dirtworks, Barry County Ready-Mix and Dirt Co.,” he said. “They need rock, but there’s a limited amount available in Barry County. We plan to make it more accessible. Like all other industries, we’ve been hit with supply chain issues, so we hope to do more so people don’t come down the hill and find no rock available.”
Not only does Konya want Jenkins rock to be available, but also cheaper, and accessible to virtually anyone.
“Barry County Ready Mix purchases a lot of concrete rock, and we have an agreement with them to purchase ours and pass those savings on to their customers,” he said. “We will be more competitive with better pricing. We can take any type of truck looking for anything from boulders to landscape rocks. They can take up to 25 tons at a time depending on the truck.
“We will also start up a bucket program, where for 50 cents, you can bring a bucket in and take any rock you’d like that fits in the bucket.”
To increase accessibility, Konya said there will be changes at the quarry to streamline processes and the physical site.
“One of the big things we will look to do with the site is redevelop,” he said. “In two to three weeks, we’ll bring in a news scale and house and redo things so people can move through the quarry without waiting around. We also have a three- to four-year plan to pull the hillside down and level it more so it’s flat and easier to access.
“We have been investing in equipment, like bringing in a new crusher that can produce 400 tons an hour without breaking down. We’re also bringing in an experienced loader operator. Most loaders we bring in will also have scales.”
Creating rock is one thing, Konya said, but ensuring its quality is another beast.
“We do quality analysis testing to make sure it’s good rock, and that quality control helped us take a foothold in Wisconsin, where we do 1 million to 1.3 million tons a year of limestone, sand and gravel,” he said. “We’ve brought our own set of testing equipment and will install a lab on-site.”
Along with quality control are environmental and safety controls, which Konya said the company takes seriously.
“We have drones that can take pictures to do 3D models of blast sites, and we have other processes to make sure blasts are safe and we are good stewards of the environment,” he said. “We have lots of internal professes to minimize noise, dust and pollution. After we are done, we want to make this area into a lake bed.”
