Drill & Blast

Quarry rehab gets environmental green light

More than 15 years after it closed, Hornsby Quarry, located west of the Hornsby town centre in New South Wales, is set to undergo rehabilitation.

Up to 1.5 million m3 of material could be extracted from Sydney’s 9km NorthConnex motorway between the M1 Pacific Motorway at Wahroonga and the M2 Hills Motorway at West Pennant Hills.

It will be transported to Hornsby Quarry where it will form the foundation of a new recreational precinct.

Mayor of Hornsby Shire Council Steve Russell called the situation a “win-win” while member for Berowra Julian Leeser said: “This project has dual benefits in both the recycling of unwanted material to an area in need of rehabilitation, while giving valuable green space back to the community.”

The scheme’s Construction and Environmental Management Plan was approved last month. It aims to reduce the impact to residents and the environment as much as possible.

The NSW Minister for Urban Infrastructure Paul Fletcher, who visited the site on 19 August, said: “The quarry site will now be set up over the rest of the year, with tunnelling and quarry filling expected to start early next year.”

Start of works

As previously reported by Quarry, site preparation works started in July, including the establishment of five-metre high baffle mounds at key sections surrounding the stockpiling area to reduce noise.

Other preliminary work includes widening two roads to cater for trucks, building a conveyor system to transport material to the quarry floor and setting up a second conveyor in the pit to spread and place the spoil.

Plant and equipment will be delivered next month and the transportation of spoil from the NorthConnex motorway project is expected to start from January 2017 and last for a period of up to 28 months.

Work will be completed on weekdays between 7am and 6pm and Saturdays between 8am and 1pm.

The in-fill project will reportedly cost $7.33 million and is being jointly funded by the Australian and New South Wales Governments and Hornsby Shire Council.

Final plans for the recreational use of the site are yet to be decided.

More reading
Spoil management project set to begin at Hornsby Quarry
Spoil to fill quarry void from October
Geologists lobby to preserve quarry rock formation
EIS released for quarry spoil management project 
Spoil deal to transform quarry in six years
Local, state, federal govts team up for quarry rehab
 

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