From custom rock crushing to contract mining, Fred Weber Inc. leverages its industry strength and expertise   

At the dawn of the 20th Century, Fred Weber, Sr. bought his first piece of mechanized equipment, a solid-tire, five-ton dump truck. Combining talented people and the right tools, his company, Fred Weber Inc. (Fred Weber), began to grow. Heavy highway construction started the growth followed by rock quarries, asphalt plants and river sand dredging. The company succeeded at becoming the best producer with the lowest cost. 

While now a major force in the industry, the company has never lost sight of the vision and work ethic of its founder. For more than 95 years, Fred Weber, Sr.’s beliefs have been an integral part of the company’s culture: the power of planning, the value of a good day’s work, and the need to continually change business practices to better serve clients.

Fred Weber grew to become the leading heavy highway, aggregate and asphalt company in the St. Louis region. In 1986 Fred Weber transitioned to an ESOP company.   

In 2006 Fred Weber added portable crushing to its services in successfully rebuilding the Taum Sauk pump storage reservoir. The project entailed crushing six million tons of rhyolite in the 3.2 million cubic yard roller compacted concrete dam reconstruction. 

After the Taum Sauk project in 2010, Doug Weible, President, redirected the portable crushing plants into a new Contract Services division within the company. “This new initiative was driven almost out of necessity,” explains Mark Denton, VP of Operations. “The housing crisis hit in 2008 and we found ourselves with portable equipment that was being underutilized. So, we forged ahead with Contract Services, which has become a great fit within the company.” 

In 2012, after 20 years with the company, Doug Weible began his leadership tenure as CEO and Chairman of the Board. In the next decade, he guided the company through a number of acquisitions and divestitures.  

Robust relationships 

Headquartered in Maryland Heights, Missouri, Fred Weber is now the premiere industry leader in full-service crushing, underground mining, frac sand mining, and contract drilling. The company is equipped with portable crushing plants, modern underground mining equipment, surface drills and a skilled team of crushing and mining professionals. 

Mark says: “We are fortunate to work on a wide range of exciting projects. The company is currently crushing four million tons of granite for a large public reservoir for the Denver, Colorado area. We purchased a new portable superior crushing plant for the project, and it is working great.” 

Fred Weber operates other high-capacity portable rock crushing and screening plants for many of the leading aggregate producers in the US. The company delivers quality and low-cost products to its customers anywhere in the continental United States. With the latest equipment, engineering tools and technology, Fred Weber has the fast-track capabilities to accommodate a variety of on-site aggregate crushing needs. The company’s modern equipment allows for the highest production yield while making specification products. Strategically based out of the St. Louis, Missouri area, the company can quickly relocate its low-cost portable plants and equipment anywhere in the US. 

“One of the things we’ve been really successful at,” continues Mark, “is our performance on new underground mine development projects. Successful mining start-ups have led to securing long-term operating contracts after development. Repeat business is a testament to the robust and trusting relationships we form with our customers. We are aware of the time sensitive nature of their operations. Fred Weber employees provide the experience, expertise, and knowledge to ensure a successful project. As a contractor we fill a niche. We bring the plant and skilled resources to support customer operations to ensure that our clients meet their commitments. 

“In 2021 our portfolio of services expanded with the acquisition of General Drilling, Inc. For more than 50 years General Drilling has provided safe, reliable, and expert solutions to the blast-hole drilling needs of stone quarries. The company is currently made up of a team of dedicated full-time drillers throughout the Midwest and Texas. The Texas division has been instrumental in supporting the activities of our subsidiary company, Victory Rock. That region is one of the most dynamic in terms of growth, so we’re working on getting sites up and running as quickly as we can. We perform contract drilling for other aggregate companies. We have approximately 40 drills and that arm of the organization is experiencing tremendous growth.”  

Contract services commitment 

Looking to the future, Mark shares that the company will remain focused on contract services. “We are always looking for new opportunities to complement our services. We particularly favor the model of new mine development, alongside production mining and forming long-term working relationships with our customers. Many start-up mining operations are not capitalized with available and redundant specialized equipment. We have the people and resources, but we boast the resources to be able to support those organizations. Some of our customers are managing multi-million-dollar operations, where specialty equipment failures can be extremely detrimental. So, we’re here to make sure we reduce downtime for our partners to keep them up and running.”