‘State significance’: Boral’s Dunmore Quarry gets approved to 2043

Boral is an Australian construction materials provider. Image: Boral

The Boral Dunmore Quarry has received approval for an extension until 2043 with supply required for major NSW projects.  

The NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure has granted approval for the project to be extended and expanded. According to the public documents, the previous consent allowed Dunmore Quarry to operate until 2034, but now it will run for an extra nine years.  

Boral was seeking to extend and expand the Dunmore site so it could continue to supply construction materials to key projects like the Sydney Airport.  

“To meet demands for asphalt at the existing Sydney Airport and the future Western Sydney Airport, as well as at other major infrastructure projects across NSW, Boral requires high yield aggregate that can be manufactured for high strength uses,” the department report states.  

The existing hard rock quarry is on Tabbita Road and around 20 kilometres south of Wollongong in the Shellharbour City Council area.  

According to the report, the local council did not object to Boral’s modification request; it received only four submissions (two for the proposal and two against), which enabled the department to make the determination.  

While it did raise considerations around biodiversity, the report stated Boral’s modification provided the “smallest disturbance” of the considered quarry designs with 7.8 hectares to be disturbed.  

“The department considers that the proposed modification would not result in significant impacts and that Boral has demonstrated the proposed modification will have minimal risk,” the report noted.  

“[It] has been designed in a manner that achieves a reasonable balance between the recovery of a state significance resource and minimising its potential environmental and social impacts.  

“The department considers that the benefits of the proposed modification outweigh its residual impacts and that the modification application be approved, subject to the recommended conditions of consent.”  

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