News

Quarry expansion approval paves way for business growth

Posted on 10 October, 2010 in Stornoway Quarrying News

Approval of Stornoway Breadalbane quarry expansion vital for maintaining Tasmanian roads and construction industry.

Tim Gardner, Managing Director of Tasmanian infrastructure firm, Stornoway, today said he was pleased the Northern Midlands Council had recently approved the expansion of the Raeburn Quarry, Breadalbane.

Approval of the expansion will take the annual output of crushed and screened rock up to 500,000 tonnes.

When complete in 18 months time, the project will represent a total investment of almost $5M in new plant and crushing equipment and the creation of up to 12 jobs. In addition the project will also provide Stornoway with the ability to recycle concrete and bricks.

Mr Gardner said the expansion of the Raeburn Quarry is vital for Northern Tasmania as it supplies crushed rock for local government maintenance as far away as Tullah, Burnie, Smithton, Swansea and the southern midlands. Mr Gardner added crushed rock is a core component of the foundations every building constructed.

“Stornoway supply crushed and screened rock from the Raeburn Quarry to nine councils to enable them to maintain their roads. Also the site provides the crushed rock needed for Stornoway and other contractors to carry out major road maintenance for the state government, in northern Tasmania.

“The Raeburn Quarry supplies twenty-six types of gravel and crushed rock for specific applications, and the expansion will help us meet strongly growing demand.

“Crushed rock is vital for the entire Tasmanian economy, while it sounds like an everyday product, the truth is it’s produced to exacting standards, and without it, building or road construction and maintenance couldn’t take place in this state.” Mr Gardner said.

Mr Gardner added Stornoway had been operating the quarry for over twenty years, and actively planning for the expansion project for over two. He said during the planning process, particular attention was paid to protecting the environment.

“Stornoway takes its environmental and social responsibilities very seriously indeed, and we have worked very carefully during the approvals process to make sure the project meets or exceeds all statutory and planning requirements.

“We carried out extensive dust, vibration, traffic, visual impact and noise modeling to ensure that the project will be operated with minimal environmental impact under comprehensive production and environmental management plans, including 1km buffer zones”, he said.

Mr Gardner said he looks forward to work starting on the project as soon as possible.

Questions and Answers

Q. What does Stornoway do apart from quarrying?
A. Stornoway has operations throughout Australia, providing remote area water supplies and waste water treatment, infrastructure maintenance, rockfall control and quarrying.

Q. When was Stornoway established?
A. Alan Gardner established Stornoway Gravel in partnership with Philip Bowden in 1976, to supply road gravel to the Launceston area.

Q. Does Stornoway have environmental management certification?
A. Yes, in 1996, Stornoway became the first Tasmanian company to achieve Environmental Management System certification to ISO 14001.

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