Plans for a hard rock quarry inside the boundaries of Newcastle’s drinking water catchment have resurfaced, with the size of the proposed operation nearly doubled from when it was first mooted more than four years ago.
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The proposal by the Eagleton Rock Syndicate will be placed on public exhibition by the Department of Planning on Friday and would see around 10 million tonnes of rock extracted over the 30 year lifespan of the quarry.
It would see up to 20 jobs created for the local area and an additional 15,000 heavy vehicles on the road each year, between the hours of 5am to 10pm Monday to Friday and 6am to 12pm on Saturday.
The extraction rate has been nearly doubled to 600,000 tonnes per annum from 350,000 when the quarry was first proposed by Nathan Tinkler-backed Castle Quarry Products in 2012.
The quarry project and plans for a sand mine in Williamtown have both been taken over by a new syndicate of Newcastle businessmen, including prominent accountant Chris Sneddon and former Castle Quarry Products development manager Murray Towndrow.
“We’re about to engage in a community consultation process for the Eagleton project similar to what happened at Williamtown,” Mr Sneddon said.
“We’ll be talking to people about what the plans are and we are happy to listen to any concerns they have.”
The quarry would be on 30 hectares of land off Barleigh Ranch Way within the catchment for Grahamstown Dam, the Hunter’s largest single drinking water source.
The NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) warned the plans must outline how the dam would be protected from discharges of polluted water.
“We’ve been in contact with Hunter Water and we’re mindful of all of those things and so are the planning authorities,” Mr Sneddon said.
In correspondence with the Department of Planning, the EPA also suggested the cumulative impact of quarries in the area be considered, as well as the proximity to the nearby Kings Hill land release which could see up to 4,500 new residential lots created.
The land is owned Laurie Bowtell and also accommodates his compost and landscape supplies business Gardenland, which the Newcastle Herald previously revealed had operated illegally for over 10 years and had leaked polluted run-off into Grahamstown Dam.
However Mr Sneddon said that company would have no involvement with the operations of the quarry if the plans were approved.
”The syndicate is providing the financial backing for the hard rock quarry and has an option to purchase the land. The current owner of the site will not be the operator of the site.”
