Resources - do we need this quarry?

There are over 400 quarries in the North Island, NZ with the most in the Waikato at just over 100, Auckland has over 30 and BOP over 40.

Waipa District has at least 23 consented quarries alone with further in for processing.

Cambridge town has at least around 13 quarries around it alone, most of them sand.  Some quarries here in Cambridge can apply for variations and there are a number of other consents in progress for the Waipa/Cambridge area including 599 Oreipunga Road, Horahora that has been on hold since 2013.  Since they started this process other quaries around the Cambridge area have gone for variations (Kaipaki Road) and new ones with direct State Highway access to Hamilton, TA and to SH1 to service Cambridge etc - doesn't need to go via Cambridge Town, this new quarry is a good example of a quarry with excellent state highway access.

The original partner for this Application was Revital (hence the original name of RS Sands which was Revital & Stevenson), Revital have decided to pull out and instead continuing quarrying at their own Cambridge quarry, they did not want to continue with this Application and did not see the need for it.

Below is the list of quarries for Waipa District alone

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In addition to the 100 Waikato quarries there are numerous other very large quarries that are in for Resource Consent around the Waikato  including next door in the Matamata / Paiko district that have direct State Highway access. The increased production in this region alone exceeds 1 million per tonnes per year which is far greater than this Application of 400,000ts and on the State highway between Cambridge and Tauranga.

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In addition, the Woodhill Sands company in Auckland had this to say about the shortage of sand in Auckland "The Woodhill Group has a 35 year consent on about 10 million cubic metres of dune sand. This sand deposit has a different fineness than river or marine sands but is has been tested as suitable for use in concrete manufacture.

So in regard to the future supply of sand in the Auckland region, the Woodhill Group has enough reserves at current rates of usage to keep the Auckland concrete market going for many years to come. And, this deposit of dune sand, in my opinion, is a much more environmentally friendly option than other resources being extracted now or in the future"

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Holcim Cement (one of the largest cement companies in the world) have also purchased the sand quarry in Mercer to service their own needs, there are others in this same area that are being investigated that could service the Waikato & Auckland.

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Despite the scare mongering Auckland is keeping up with the demand with additional resource production, especially from from Kaipara, Brookby Quarries and Woodhill Sands.​​​​​​​​​​​​

 

Large quarries for consent in the Matamata Piako district (next district over)  include, but not limited to

1) State Highway 29 Matamata  -  applicant proposes to extract up to 500,000m3 of material per year, in lieu of 150,000m3 per year currently allowed under the existing resource consent.

(Note 500,000m3 annum is nearly 1million tonnes per annum of sand) which fills the need of this Application alone

2)  404 Waihekau Road, Te Aroha - Extract/backfill up to 250,000m3 of sand per year expand an existing sand extraction facility so as to allow for up to 250,000m3 of sand to be extracted per year and the same amount to be imported as backfill.

Note 250k m3 of sand equates to around 500k tonnes per annum which fills the need for this Application alone.

3) 226 Hinuera Road, Matamata : Quarrying and cleanfill activities applicant proposes to excavate up to 150,000 m3 of sand, and import up to 50,000m3 of cleanfill for backfilling and rehabilitation of the excavated area

5)  Waihekau Road -  in progress with S92.

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In summary, Auckland have sufficient supply now combining Kaipara and Woodhill Sands, Brookby 

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In the Environment Court of for McCullum Bros (Pakiri Sand)  the experts did not rate the Waikato Sand with statements like

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Mr Beatson is an Independent Concrete Plant Engineer; he holds a New Zealand Certificate of Engineering and has 40 years’ experience in the concrete industry said this about the Waikato Sand "He said sand could be transported from the Waikato, but it is inferior to the coastal sands having an alkali silica reaction with cement, reducing the durability of the concrete, and it requires about 15% more cement in the mix and the lighter volcanic materials require washing out."

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Mr Officer also said this about the Waikato Sand: "alkaline silica reaction is a risk with Waikato sand",

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In addition, there have been recently innovative and alternate solutions including https://kayasand.com/about.aspx

 

All of this undermines the Applicants' and their paid consultants' reports—essentially torpedoing the lot. Additionally, every sand and concrete company in the Waikato is aware of the Alkali-Silica Reactivity (ASR) issues with Waikato sand, so it's implausible to suggest that Fulton Hogan hasn’t measured this or is unaware of the silica reaction concerns within the concrete— refer to the Silica section of this website.

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Articles:

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Auckland related:

https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/02/26/nz-quarry-business-to-make-own-sand-to-solidify-concrete-supply/

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https://quarryingandminingmag.co.nz/kaipara-brookby-quarry/

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https://quarryingandminingmag.co.nz/we-need-to-yell-harder/

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Others

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https://kayasand.com/about.aspx

 

​​​​Article - Silica

https://quarryingandminingmag.co.nz/time-to-get-serious-about-silica/

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https://www.stats.govt.nz/news/annual-number-of-homes-consented-down-25-percent/

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