1992, BY MAJOR USE CATEGORY 
TABLE 2 
 
TENNESSEE: CONSTRUCTION SAND AND GRAVEL SOLD OR USED IN I f~m North Carolina
for the facility. 
 
Use 
Quantity 
 
(thousand 
 
short tons) 
Value 
(thousands) 
Value 
per ton 
Concrete aggregates (including concrete sand) 
3,662 W 
266 
$16,504 
 
W 
 
1,418 
$4.51 
 
10.00 
 
5.33 
Plaster and gunite sands 
 
 
 
Concrete products (blocks, brick, pipe, decorative, etc.) 
 
 
 
Asphaltic concrete aggregates and other bituminous 
 
 
 
mixtures 
1,050 
2,089 
184 
 
W 
 
W 
 
89 
 
464 
 
674 
8,478 
7,691 
6,686 
5,069 
 
340 
 
W 
 
W 
 
535 
 
1,530 
 
2,995 
 
35,077 
35,077 
6.37 
2.43 
1.85 
10.00 
 
11.24 
 
6.01 
 
3.30 
 
4.44 
 
4.14 
4.56 
Road base and coverings 
 
 
 
Fill 
 
 
 
Snow and ice control 
 
 
 
Railroad ballast 
 
 
 
Other miscellaneous uses~ 
 
 
 
Unspecified:2 
 
 
 
Actual 
 
 
 
Estimated 
 
 
 
Total 
 
 
 
Total'4 
 
 
 
w Withheld to avoid disclosing company proprietaiydata; inClUded with ' Other
miscellaneous uscs.' ' Includes filtration. 
2lncludes productionreported withouta breakdownby end use and estimates for
nonrespondents. 
' One metric ton Ia equal to 1,000 kilograms or 2,204.62 pounds. To convertshort
tons into metric tons, multiply short tons by 0.907185. 
4Total quantity and total value in thousand metric tons and thousand dollars.

514  TENNESSEE—1992 
 
process and licensed it to other pet waste absorbant producers including
Golden Cat, Excel Mineral Co., and Clorox Co. ACC also acquired the foundry
clay and coal blending operation of Porter Warner Industries (PWI) in Chattanooga
earlier in the year. The blending plant is the second of two that ACC operates
to service the foundry industry in the southern United States. Terms of the
sale and a long-term marketing agreement were not disclosed. The agreement
was intended to combine the technical and marketing strengths of ACC with
PWI's distribution strength. 
 
 Gemstones.—Tennessee once again led the Nation in the value of
natural
gemstones produced. The value of gemstones produced was reported in 1992
after being withheld in previous years. Gemstone production consisted almost
entirely of cultured freshwater pearls and mother-of-pearl derived from freshwater
mussel shells of the family Unioidae. Although cultured pearl farming has
been established in Tennessee since the late 
1970's, the majority of the mussel harvest 
in Tennessee was exported to Japan where the shells were used to make the
bead nucleus for its cultured pearl industry. The shells also were used to
make cameos and as mother-of-pearl. The largest producer of cultured pearls
in Tennessee was American Pearl Farms, which operated five farms. An associate
company, Tennessee Shell Co. , was the major producer of mother-of-pearl
in the Nation. The value of gemstones produced in 1992, $23.3 million, accounted
for 35 % of the total gemstone production reported in the United States,
although it was significantly less than that reported in previous years.
The USBM gemstone commodity specialist attributed this to the State's leading
producers having included production from operations in States other than
Tennessee in the figures they reported for Tennessee in past years. 
 A new pan-for-fee gemstone operation opened in Blountvile, Sullivan County,
in June. Ore containing amethyst, aquamarine, emerald, and ruby is shipped

 Lime.—Tennessee ranked 16th in the volume of lime produced and
18th
in its 
attendant value in 1992, after ranking 14th in both categories in 1991. Thirty-

two States and Puerto Rico produced 
lime in 1992. Both quicklime and hydrated lime were produced and sold by

Tenn-Luttrell Lime Co. , a subsidiary of Penn-VirginiaCorp. , Philadelphia,
PA, at 
Luttrell, Union County. The lime was manufactured from high-calcium 
limestone quarried from two sites near 
the plant. Quicklime was produced as a byproduct by the Bowater Southern
Paper Corp. at its Calhoun newsprint plant in McMmnn County. 
 
 Sand and Gmvel.—Construction.-Construction sand and gravel production

is surveyed by the USBM for even- 
numbered years only; data for oddnumbered years are based on annual 
company estimates. This chapter contains actual data for 1990 and 1992 and
estimates for 1991. 
 Production of construction sand and gravel increased 26.5 % , from an estimated
6.7 million short tons in 1991 to 8.5 ~ million tons in 1992. Its corresponding
value increased 66.2%, from $21. 1 million to $35. 1 million, and its unit
value increased 31.4%, from $3.l5pertonin 1991 to $4.l4per tonin 
1992. Construction sand and gravel production set an alltime high in 1992,
7.6 % greater than the previous record of 
7.9 million tons set in 1987. Its attendant value was 21 .5 % greater than
the previous record-high value of $28.9 million, also set in 1987. Tennessee
ranked 37th in quantity and 32d in value in comparison with the 49 StateS
producing construction sand and gravel. 
The value ranking was appreciably higher than the 1991 ranking, but the 1992
quantity ranking stayed the same as that of 1991. 
 Forty-one companies reported construction sand and gravel production from
52 pits in 24 of Tennessee's 95 counties. The leading producers in terms
of quantity were Memphis Stone and