A Queensland construction materials producer is selling three operations within its seven-quarry network.
Gromac Quarries has put its central Queensland operations – the Sarina, Hatfield and Blue Mountain quarries – and their fixed assets on the market. It is offering a range of package deal options comprising freehold and licensing arrangements, with or without machinery assets.
According to the company, the quarries are positioned to competitively tender for future projects planned throughout the Mackay region, including the $150 million Walkerston Bypass.
Sarina and Hatfield are well placed to supply the $10 billion to $12 billion Dudgeon Point Coal Loading Facility and future upgrades to the Goonyella and east coast rail network. The quarries are also appropriately located for the upcoming Clarke Creek Energy Project.
At present, the quarries provide product for the ongoing maintenance of the Goonyella line for rail freight operator Aurizon and Queensland Rail, and various road projects and upgrades for local council and Department of Transport and Main Roads, including the Eaton range project.
“The three quarries work well together and cover a wide area around the Mackay district,” a Gromac Quarries spokesperson said.
“They have large quantities of good quality reserves and have good relationships with local councils, Department of Main Roads, local contractors and the rail systems that they supply material to. The quarries have a long history of supplying quality materials to high profile projects in the area.”
Gromac acquired Sarina, which is owned under freehold title, in May 2011. Located on the Bruce Highway, approximately 5km south of Sarina, this early-stage development has approval to extract between 5000 and 100,000 tonnes of rock and aggregate per annum, with conditions.
The Blue Mountain Quarry, accessed via the Peak Downs Highway, is also freehold and is permitted to extract between 100,000 and one million tonnes annually, with conditions.
Gromac’s Hatfield Quarry is located in Bolingbroke Road, Koumala, about 35km from Sarina. It operates under a licensing agreement to extract between 100,000 and one million tonnes per year, with conditions.
Its key products to date include road base, cement-treated road base, armoured rock, flood rock and mattress rock, and ballast, among others. According to the company, the quarry’s full potential is yet to be realised and could be expanded into the aggregate market.
Gromac’s preferred approach is to sell all three quarries as a package deal with or without machinery assets. They have put forward three sale options for interested parties but the company is prepared to consider alternate sale structures, including offers for part of the business.
The sale of the quarries will include various fixed assets that include weighbridges, associated buildings, bore pumps and water lines, access grids and a jaw crusher at Hatfield. The machinery assets range from new low-houred to well-maintained 10,000 to 15,000 hour machinery and plant.
