A long history between Tradet and Std Labs begin back in the 1980s when Bill Kalb and Troy Stallard attended the meetings of the American Council of Independent Laboratories.

In 2013 Std Labs acquired the assets of Gilbert Coal Testing located in Gilbert West Virginia. This lab was owned by Terry Samons who had been an old time friend and supporter of Buck Harless, a coal producer in the southern West Virginia coalfields.

The year of 2007 was very important to Std Labs as it acquired the assets of C.O.A.L. and its associated water and soil testing laboratory NEST located in Belington, West Virginia.

In the mid 1980s Std was performing a great deal of work for Amax Coal Company in the Mid American coal fields. Amax was the third largest coal company in the United States at that time and was merged with Cypress Mines and later sold to Phelps Dodge.

See Central States Analytical in the Diversifications Section to read about the acquisition of National Labs of Evansville and how it fit into Standard Labs’ diversification plans.

Std Labs acquired Gould Energy in 1992 after a long and successful relationship with its owner Gregory Gould. Gladys Berchtold and Greg had been participants in ASTM for many years dating back to the 1960s and had actually formed a partnership called United Technical Service Laboratories in 1975 to joint market their capabilities.

The largest coal company in America, Peabody Coal Company, approached Std Labs early in the year of 1991 about acquiring their central research and core analyses laboratory located in Freeburg, Illinois. That lab was renowned for its high quality work in virtually all aspects of coal analysis and soil mechanics. The lab had a number of highly experienced employees headed by Rick Wilburn.

Core Laboratories, Inc., a Texas firm specializing in drill core analysis, approached Std Labs about selling their coal testing assets in the Power River coal fields in Wyoming. They were primarily involved in supplying test results to the petrochemical industry and did not want to further develop their coal testing business. After a number of months an agreement was reached in 1990 whereas Std Labs acquired the assets of eight labs which were located in Wyoming, Texas and Indiana. This move became the seed for Western Division of Std Labs and comprised five laboratories.

A coal and water laboratory was purchased by Std Labs in 1981 from a Mr. Robert Speech. The lab performed coal sampling and analysis as well as water analysis for the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles and was certified by the state of California.

In the Corbin, KY area Std Labs had encountered a competitor, Environmental Technology, which was owned by Jimmy Wadkins and his wife. This entity supplied coal testing and some environmental test (mainly water testing). After several years of competition, Jimmy approached Std Labs and suggested a merger which actually ended up after negotiations as an acquisition for Std Labs.