Stones found in Azores quarry may save AF time, money

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Aaron Wiley
  • 65th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
LAJES AIR FIELD, Azores (USAFENS) --  A team of Lajes military, civilian members and contractors involved in the military port’s breakwater reconstruction project here visited two local quarries June 2 where stones were recently discovered that may be suitable for the project.

Incoming tests are confirming the Açorbuild and Tecnovia Açores quarries’ discovery of layers of basalt stone that can be broken into 5-20 ton pieces might be sufficiently large, dense and of high enough quality to be used as armor stone in the protective berm for the military port.

If tests sent to the United States come back positive, using the recently-discovered Terceiran stones instead of stone from Norway could save the U.S. Air Force time and money in what is currently the largest and most expensive military construction project at Lajes, said Steve Day, 65th Civil Engineer Squadron’s breakwater project manager.

According to Ivan Bass, construction project manager for Kellogg, Brown & Root Service Inc., the contractor administering the project under the U.S. Navy’s management, preliminary results prove promising.

Worthy stones at the quarries are already being marked to show which have passed the geologists’ inspections, which may not be suitable due to cracks and flaws and which stones have been rejected.

“We’re spreading the dollars very economically and trying to get the best value for the government,” said Mr. Bass. “We need good production and they’re doing a good job. It’s gearing up … we’re trying to get as much acceptable stone as we can, and it’s looking good, it’s looking more optimistic.”

The breakwater repair, made necessary by violent storms that have damaged the berm over the last few years, is vital to the refueling mission here.

Once complete, the project will have created a state-of-the-art protective breakwater; an estimated $68.4 million undertaking.

“Every year we have a storm, it rips away more of the breakwater which is material we have to replace,” said Mr. Day. “February‘s storm probably cost us between $5 and $10 million dollars.”

According to Mr. Day, funding has always been part of the challenge and will determine when the project is completed. There were emergency repairs done in Fiscal 2003, but less than 50 percent of the funding for the current breakwater repair has been secured so far. Another challenge for the wing is finding stones that meet designers’ specific requirements.

“When we first (began the project), because of the speed with which we had to get the initial rock, it was easier, faster and cheaper to go to someone we knew could get us the rock we needed,” he said. “So we got the initial rock from Norway.”

A total of two barges brought in $40,000 tons of stone from Norway for the work that began in June of 2004, Mr. Day said.

“The months of testing we’ve gone through testing the Azorean quarries, would’ve initially delayed the critical repairs already completed,” said Paul Carnley, 65th CES deputy commander.

“Since then we’ve pursued other locations that are closer,” said Mr. Day. “São Miguel was one and the two quarries we found here.”

The rock in São Miguel turned out fine, he said, but the cost is comparable to the stones from Norway , and acquiring it still poses the same transportation and storage problems.

“One of the benefits of having (stone) on the island is we don’t have to wait for ships to arrive, we don’t have to stockpile the stones once they get here,” Mr. Day said.

Paulo Baião, construction project manager for Sociedade de Empreitadas e Trabalhos Hidraulicos, Lda., a Portuguese-owned company that’s been sub-contracted to do a large portion of the on-site work, estimated that the local stone might allow work to continue on the protected harbor-side of the berm throughout the winter months, whereas shipping stones over the Atlantic must be curtailed at the end of August due to rough seas.

If the stones are determined to be suitable for the repair and the quarries can produce enough of them, “It’ll be a win, win situation for everyone,” said Col. Michael Silver, Mission Support Group commander.