Stoney Pinch Quarry and Earthmoving was established in Renmark, South Australia in 2007, supplying rock, sand and gypsum, among other products and services, to the local region.
The quarry’s hard rock resource was estimated to be around 525,000 tonnes with an operational life of 50 years, and the business has been extracting material at a rate of approximately 10,000 tonnes per annum.
However, last year, during excavation, one of the quarry workers discovered a different material beneath the business’s known sandstone resource.
Stoney Pinch director Sheree Chappel told Quarry that a Sydney geologist had assessed the newly uncovered resource and determined that the material was silica sand. She said the geologist additionally believed the resource was three million years old and had once been a beach at a time when the ocean stretched further inland.
The resource is currently undergoing further testing but Chappel estimated that, depending on the quality, the new sand product could be priced at anywhere between $30 and $1000 per tonne. “The silica sand will open other market avenues for the company,” she stated.
The business’s expansion could also be an economic boon for the local community. Commenting on plans to extract the resource, Chappel said, “We envisage that in stage one [of production] we will employ approximately 10 new staff members.”
She added that the adoption of new plant might be a possibility but that this would depend on client specifications.
Chappel noted that the business’s exploration licence extended past the quarry’s current operational tenement area, indicating that there was still potential for other resources to be unearthed.