A Scottsdale quarry is applying to increase its annual production from 6000 cubic metres per year to 20,000 cubic metres, or 28,000 tonnes.
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Venarchie – a division of Fulton Hogan Industries – has run a mining operation at the Goanna Road Quarry, just shy of 10 kilometres east of Scottsdale, since 2006. There are two similar operations nearby, the Kamona Sandpit and the HBMI Quarry.
The quarry extracts sand and gravel for the purpose of making bedding, concrete and asphalt. The raw materials are delivered by road trucks to be processed at the company’s Mowbray site.
It occupies a nine hectare mining lease, with 1.6 hectares used so far, and 1.4 hectares earmarked for clearing as part of the expansion. The relevant environment consists of damp sclerophyll forest and broad-leaf shrub vegetation.
No endangered animals or plants were found by consultants ECO Tas within 500 metres of the site. Animals found within a five-kilometre radius of the site include the grey goshawk, wedge-tailed eagle, giant freshwater crayfish, spotted-tailed quoll, eastern quoll, Scottsdale burrowing crayfish, swift parrot, eastern barred bandicoot and the tasmanian devil.
Pending approval, it intends to be operational seven days a week, 7am to 7pm weekdays and 8am to 5pm weekends, from 2020. It is anticipated there will be 966 truck loads, in 1932 movements, annually, with the heaviness of traffic varying throughout the year.
The Goanna Road Quarry has not been subject to any public complaints, recorded regulatory breaches, or contraventions of environmental law.
The application is at the stage of Environmental Protection Authority assessment, and the Environmental Effects Report can be viewed in the Assessments in Progress section of the EPA website, or through the Dorset Council.
Public comments are invited until January 29, and should be addressed to the general manager of the Dorset Council, in person at their offices, via post to their offices, or by emailing dorset@dorset.tas.gov.au.