Columbia County Files State Review for $40M Rock Quarry Project

Columbia County submitted paperwork to the state for a $40 million crushed-rock quarry in the southwest part of the county. Quality Materials Co. LLC, a Norcross-based firm, wants to build on more than 360 acres near Interstate 20, Louisville Road, and Baker Place Road.

The county filed a Development of Regional Impact statement with the Georgia Department of Community Affairs on Nov. 23, 2025. Georgia uses DRI classifications for large-scale developments that'll affect areas outside local government boundaries.

Quality Materials Co. LLC sets up aggregate production facilities across the Southeast. Workers will quarry granite for construction materials, including concrete and asphalt.

"Preliminary studies have indicated that the resource on the Site is a granite/granite gneiss material that meets all Georgia Department of Transportation-quality specifications for coarse aggregates used in concrete and roadway materials," the company said in its project summary filed with county planners, according to The Augusta Chronicle.

The development would include three surface-mining pits. Each pit covers about 90 acres. Other parts of the site would house an office, scales, a primary crusher, and a processing plant that uses secondary crushers to reduce aggregate size, screens to separate material by size, washing systems for the products, and conveyors to move material into stockpiles.

Primary access to the facility would come from Louisville Road. Two property owners hold the four parcels involved.

Vulcan Materials Co. operates a facility at 5868 Columbia Road that it bought in 2017 from Aggregates USA. Martin Marietta runs another quarry about a mile away near Appling off Columbia Road. That company also operates an Augusta quarry at 4001 Quarry Road, off River Watch Parkway.

The Columbia County Planning Commission will consider the development request at its meeting on Dec. 18.