Austinville Limestone is an active limestone quarry and tailings recovery operation on the oldest active mining site in the eastern United States. We currently operate a small open-pit quarry to extract high-grade dolomitic limestone for construction aggregates, chemical limestone applications, and our primary market - pulverized & pelletized limestone for acid soil treatment.

Our process begins with removal of "overburden" which is mostly clay and topsoil covering the limestone rock, after which we drill and blast the rock from the deposit. This rock then goes through two crushing steps to reduce sizing to 1" and smaller. This is then fed to a roller mill, which grinds the rock down into a fine powder (limestone must be finely ground to react in the soil and neutralize acid).  This limestone dust is then fed through a "pin mixer" where it is pre-moistened with an organic binder to begin the pellet-making process.  This mixture is then fed onto a large rotating dish which is mounted at an incline, where additional binder is sprayed onto the limestone. The cascading action of the limestone in the dish rolls the dust into spherical pellets, which spill off the dish when they reach a certain range of sizes.  These pellets are then dried in a fluidized-bed dryer and screened to the correct size.  Then, it's on to the bagging plant, where pellets are packaged into valve bags, and stacked on pallets with our robotic palletizer. The milling, pelletizing and bagging processes are controlled via computer, but still contain some manual steps.

Our LimeLite® enhanced pelletized limestone products are "chelated" with an organic acid known as gluconate, which is mixed with the binder, so pellets are homogeneous. Along with a much finer grind (particle size), this makes these pellets faster-acting, with the calcium and magnesium more readily available in the soil.

Our agricultural limestone business uses a different material source. The previous mining activity, where lead and zinc were extracted from limestone ore mined deep underground, left millions of tons of finely-ground limestone (after metals were extracted).  These "tailings" are excavated and processed with powerscreens to produce an economical and effective agricultural liming material. We have been servicing agricultural customers in NC, VA, and WV with this aglime since the 1980's, and have several more years of reserves to sell, after which we will manufacture "new" aglime with our mill systems.

We currently employ 30 dedicated and hard-working people who strive every day to please our valued customers. Austinville Limestone also strives to protect and improve the environment, while maintaining a safe workplace for our employees.