Quarry process under fire

Peter Gardiner | 27th November 2009

Kin Kin residents don't want this happening in their area on any large scale. This is an existing quarry near Kenilworth.

A proposed new quarry is going to put more pressure on Kin Kin’s roads.

Che Chapmannj

Kin Kin residents don’t want this happening in their area on any large scale. This is an existing quarry near Kenilworth.

Right from the start, going back 20 years, Allen Packer believes the Kin Kin community was excluded in the extractive process that has become KRA 57.

That is the designated key resource area that is going to crank back up into life next year as a quarry unless residents can find a way to stop what they say is an excessive threat to their lifestyle.

They fear the state government and the Sunshine Coast council are going to stand by and allow up to a million tonnes a year be gouged out of Wahpunga Range and trucked through their country roads for up to 25 years.

After all, the old Noosa council used to have the lease on this hard rock quarry, which contains prime aggregate material for infrastructure and construction projects.

Mr Packer is one of the neighbours of the Sheppersons Lane site he said first operated in 1988. Nearby also is the Valley Springs Retreat, where people head to regain their health.

Mr Packer said the new permit would allow the quarry to operate from 6am to 6pm six days a week. And, with an indication that blasting will be allowed from 7am, retreat guests may be too busy recoiling to do much inner healing.

Standing from the vantage of a nearby hill with Mr Packer and John News, of the Kin Kin Community Group, this week, they pointed out the sloping site that is on a dairy farm.

The hillside looked barely disturbed last week, but Mr Packer said estimates were 15,000 tonnes were taken out initially before the quarry works ceased in the 1990s.

The quarry opponents said the minimum predicted annual extraction of KRA 57 was 100,000 tonnes with a maximum of 10 times that.

Mr Packer said the overall parcel of land was roughly a square block of 60 hectares, of which at least half could be mined.

He said the quarry face was almost the entire width of this and the intended depth of extraction was 170 metres.

“What concerns me is the process followed by the council,” Mr Packer said.

“It seems to me that council has never even voted on the size of this thing ... I can’t find any record of any vote on the size of it since 1988.”

Mr Packer said council documentation showed the design of the quarry in 1988 was to 50 metres depth with four people working there and one small site office only.

“It described the excavation as being 17% of the lot or 10 hectares.

“The current proposal is something like 30 hectares and the design starts at three metres below the top of Sheppersons Hill ... they’re talking about

taking the whole northern face off.

“They were able to keep the community out of the loop. We’ve been kept out of this virtually since 1988 and we don’t want to see it happen to anyone else.”

Mr Packer said that this had always been a council-driven quarry.

“Their guys found this back in the 1980s, they tried to get it going and couldn’t,” Mr Packer said. He said they ended up leasing it themselves and then in 2003 they moved a motion to extend it into the 2030s.

Mr Packer believes this extension was designed to attract a big operator.

“And they did, but what they responded with was a mega-quarry. I think they (the operators) intend having up to 20 of their own trucks, and then customer trucks on top of that.

“One thing that should be of concern is that they’re talking about taking articulated vehicles straight out onto the Bruce Highway and there’s a black spot there.”

The Kin Kin Community Group has invited local councillor Lew Brennan to discuss the issue at the local hall on December 9.

A council spokeswoman said the quarry was approved in 1988 following the issue of a court order. She said while the quarry had not operated for some time, the term of the quarry was extended by the former Noosa Council to May 12, 2033. This was in accordance with legal advice received by council, with the extension consistent with the conditions of the court order.

“The use is required to operate in accordance with conditions of the court order including a management plan and a designated haulage route to the Bruce Highway.

“This management plan was required to be updated at the time council extended the term of the quarry to better accord with today’s requirements, with the scale of the excavation areas remaining unchanged. The quarry is also required to operate in accordance with the Environmental Protection Agency to mitigate against any adverse impacts on residents.”

“We’ve been kept out of this virtually since 1988 and we don’t want to see it happen to anyone else.”