The futures of two Sunshine Coast quarries are set to be decided later this year as part of a local council’s tender process.
Image Flat Quarry has operated in the Sunshine Coast since the 1960s while Dulong Quarry opened up a decade later in the 1970s but last year, the Sunshine Coast Council decided to lease both quarries to a commercial business.
Black Cat Civil has received an $8.5 million contract for work at the two quarries in 2021 for mobile crushing and screening work.
Image Flat Quarry was originally commissioned to produce suitable rock for the concrete wall at Wappa Dam while Dulong Quarry was focused on producing rock for spray sealing and asphalt production.
“The council is currently operating the two quarries. Products from Image Flat Quarry and Dulong Quarry sites have historically been used within council projects and sold to external suppliers and contractors,” a council report said earlier this year.
“An asphalt plant operated at Image Flat Quarry until the temporary closure of the plant in 2020.
“The quarry business has been impacted by the closure of the asphalt plant and is competing with other privately owned facilities with the capability of larger-scale vertical integration and capacity for capital investment.”
Despite the EOI process, operations are still ongoing at the two quarries with truck hauling scheduled for later this month according to the council’s website.
Blasted rock is set to be collected from Dulong quarry and transported to Image Flat Quarry for crushing, sorting and sales.
The truck haul is set to go from May 29 until mid-July.
Potential tenders can be sent by operators to the council through its tender alert service which is set to run until June 30.
“It was proposed that the preferred solution would be to lease the quarry business and operating sites to a commercial operator to optimise the performance of these assets and their continuing contribution to the region as a sustainable source of supply of essential construction material,” a council spokesperson told the Sunshine Coast News.