Members of the activist group Stop the Gold Coast Quarry held a public meeting earlier this month at a local school, where around 250 people chanted ?Stop the Quarry?, reported Sun Community Newspapers.
“Extraction industries are the most intrusive of any industry,” Stop the Gold Coast Quarry chief executive Sam Stewart told goldcoast.com.au. “The idea of putting a quarry in suburbia in an open zone is totally unacceptable.”
Local Labor MP Christine Smith promised residents at the public meeting that she would actively oppose the quarry, taking her argument to the Queensland Treasurer Andrew Fraser.
“I have a granddaughter that goes to St Andrew’s and I don’t want a quarry near the school, just like you don’t want to live next to one,” she told residents. “I can’t promise it won’t go ahead but I’ll do everything I can to stop it.”
The group is protesting the development of a new operation by Boral that will see a 70ha quarry on 220ha of bushland between the Tallebudgera Valley, Reedy Creek, the Observatory and Old Burleigh Town. The 220ha site is made up of Lot 105 on SP144215, which is owned by Boral, and Lot 901 on RP907357, which is a 3.3ha reserve administered by the Gold Coast City Council. Boral says that the operational footprint for the quarry will comprise approximately 30 per cent of the total site and will include vegetated buffer zones of between 250 and 600 metres.
Community members have taken issue with the potential noise and vibration that would be caused by the site, operational hours of 6am to 6pm six days a week, environmental and health concerns and road traffic problems.
Boral, however, has argued that its facility will be sensitive to the local ecology, and the company will demonstrate its commitment to sustainable development.
?The site?s favourable topography, sensitive project design and extensive vegetation buffers will avoid any impact on visual amenity for the majority of residents,? Boral told Quarry in a statement. ?As it has done on many other quarry sites in Queensland, Boral will also work with local environment groups to enhance the vegetated buffer around the quarry site.?
Boral took its application directly to the State Government, claiming the site is a ?significant project,? as its existing Burleigh Waters quarry is running out of material.
The company also reiterated to Quarry that its application is consistent with the Queensland Government?s designation of the site as being within a ?key resource area?.
The site contains the largest deposit of high grade hard rock resource within the region. Boral estimates that 84 million tonnes of exploitable hard rock deposit is available for extraction at the proposed site and that a new operation would bring 140 construction jobs to the region.
The final Terms of Reference (TOR) for the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Gold Coast Quarry were released by the State Government in August 2011. Since then, Boral has made preparations to commence the detailed EIS in early 2012. Current activities include commencement of further operational design activities and engaging professional and technical experts who will undertake the wide range of technical studies and assessments required by the TOR.
As part of the EIS, Boral says it will continue with its community and stakeholder engagement program to inform stakeholders of what the project will mean to the local area and the surrounding region. This includes launching detailed animations of the proposed quarry site which are available on the project website and will be used by various consultants during the EIS.
The animations include a five minute overview of the project and the site ? putting the quarry site into its regional context – as well as seven shorter animations that measure distances from nearby residences to the proposed quarry. Each animation is based on topographical data and recent aerial and ground photographs to ensure it is as accurate and up to date as possible.
To view the animations, visit www.boral.com/goldcoastquarry
Sources: Boral, Sun Community Newspapers, goldcoast.com.au