Mining & Aggregates

Aggregate and mining environments are among the most demanding duty cycles a telehandler will ever see. Dust penetration, shock loads from rough ground travel, and continuous operations across two shifts push machines harder than any construction site. The spec decisions matter more here than almost anywhere else.

Rough-terrain machines with rated capacities of 8,000 to 12,000 pounds are the core of most aggregate operation fleets. The Manitou MT 1440, the JLG 1055, and similar units in the 10,000 to 12,000-pound range run bucket work, place heavy panels, and handle the kind of stone bags and bulk containers that move through a busy aggregate yard. Four-wheel drive and differential lock are required, not optional.

Machines taking abuse at a quarry tend to cycle faster than those on a construction site. A four-year-old quarry telehandler with 5,000 hours is a different proposition than a five-year-old construction unit with the same hours on the clock. We finance used machines with full understanding of the duty-cycle difference. Condition and mechanical history matter more than calendar age.

Attachment use is heavy in aggregate environments. Buckets are essential for stockpile work and for moving crushed stone or sand in areas where a loader cannot navigate. Bucket attachments financed with the machine are common, and combining the attachment in the same deal keeps the monthly payment simple.

Some quarry expansion projects require heavy-lift telehandlers in the 15,000-pound range for placing structural sections, conveyor frames, and precast panels during plant construction. These are legitimate equipment finance transactions at our standard terms, not specialty lending.

Quarry and aggregate operations tend to be private, family-owned or regionally-held businesses. They are not public companies with treasury functions, and their banking relationships often predate the current equipment cycle. A production manager who has run the same quarry for twenty years knows the equipment he needs. He does not necessarily have a conventional lender who moves fast on heavy iron.

Limestone quarries in the Southeast, sand-and-gravel pits in the Midwest, industrial mineral operations in Nevada and Colorado, and crushed-stone operations serving highway construction in the Sun Belt all come to us with the same basic situation: the machine is identified, the need is real, and the conventional bank is slow or uninterested in equipment collateral they do not see every day.

Contract crushing and screening operations are another strong segment. These companies move equipment from site to site under short-term contracts with aggregate producers or construction firms. They buy and replace telehandlers on a two-to-four-year cycle, and they often need fast financing because the next contract starts before the bank paperwork clears. We fund operators based in Denver, Salt Lake City, and across the western mining corridor on a regular basis.

Aggregate dealers who stage and deliver materials to construction sites also run telehandlers for yard work and truck loading. These are straightforward commercial equipment finance transactions, and they often want to add machines quickly when business accelerates.

Mining and aggregate companies often have the kind of credit profile that trips up conventional bank underwriting: cyclical revenue, past-due items from a slow quarter, equipment-heavy balance sheets that look leveraged on paper, or simply thin credit files because the business does not borrow much. None of those things are automatic declines here.

Application-only financing to approximately $400,000 requires three months of business bank statements and a one-page application. No tax returns. No compiled or reviewed financials. The bank statement shows us current revenue and activity, and that is usually enough for deals in the sweet spot of $100,000 to $200,000.

challenged credit is considered. We look at the full picture: current cash flow, the equipment's utility to the operation, and whether the business has demonstrated it can service equipment debt. A quarry operation with a rough credit event two years ago but steady current revenue is a fundable deal in most cases.

Equipment financing with B or C credit is a specialty we handle every day, not an exception we make reluctantly. Reach out before you assume a credit issue is a deal killer.

New machines come with full warranty, dealer support, and the latest Tier 4 Final engine systems. For an operation that does not have strong in-house maintenance capability, new iron and a service contract from the dealer is often the right call even at the higher price point.

Used machines, when sourced from known rental-fleet history or from other aggregate operations where maintenance records are available, can represent serious value. A 3,000-hour machine that comes out of a well-maintained rental fleet is different from one that has spent three years in an underground mine. Knowing where the hours came from is the key to a good used-iron buy in this industry.

Used telehandler financing carries the same terms as new at our desk. The underwriting is the same, the timeline is the same, and we do not penalize used-machine buyers with higher rates simply because the machine is not new. The equipment is the collateral either way.