On The Land
1 February, 2025
Rock crushing operation approved
Owners of a property designated as agricultural land were given the green light to remove, crush and on-sell 5000 tonnes of rock a year following approval by the Mareeba Shire Council last week.
Wallace Quarrying and Mining applied on behalf of the property owners for a Development Permit for Material Change of Use – Extractive Industry (Up to 5,000 tonnes per annum), in June last year.
The property, on Tinaroo Creek Road, Mareeba, was initially cleared of 80% of its native vegetation following State Government approval in 2017/18, to enable “irrigated high-value agriculture”. The approval required this land to be cropped, or it must be revegetated.
A report to council said a large amount of basalt rock was removed from the soil profile at the eastern end of the property, which is now cropped with avocados (approximately 6 hectares). The rock has been stockpiled at the western end of the land.
A large proportion of the remaining land cleared for agriculture was still awaiting rock removal. The applicants proposed to crush both the stockpiled basalt rock, as well as the rock currently on the rest of the site, as it is removed
over time.
The work would occasionally require blasting, the report said, to break up the larger rocks, before they could be crushed. The crushed rock would then be screened and washed to produce a saleable resource.
Three submissions, two by neighbouring property owners, and one by Conmat Construction Materials, opposed the proposal, highlighting technical flaws in the application; dust, noise and emissions issues; and that the applicant could extract material up to 5,000 tonnes per annum on a continuous basis for years to come. This last submission called for a more specific Operational Works Permit for the clearing/crushing of the already stockpiled rocks.
Mayor Angela Toppin said this last issue could not happen as the land was approved for “agricultural use only”, and the rocks were being removed to enable that.
Chief executive officer Peter Franks added that the region was known for its “huge basalt boulders”, and any landowner had the right to remove them.
“And in this case, they asked ‘rather than pulling the rocks up and putting them aside, we want to be able to crush them and sell them’.
“There isn’t a time frame on it, but they’re only allowed to remove the rocks that are there.”
The approval also came with a list of conditions that addressed dust, water quality, weed and pest control, and “potential noise impacts the blasting and rock crushing activities may have on the nearby sensitive land uses”. These included:
• The operation for crushing, screening and washing rock could only occur a maximum of 10 days in a four-week period, and only between Monday and Friday, 7am and 6pm. No weekends or public holidays.
• Rock could be ripped or picked from paddocks on-site between 7am and 6pm Monday to Friday and 7am to 12pm Saturdays.
• Blasting associated with the approved extractive industry must not occur more than twice per year. A Blast Management Plan must be developed for each blasting activity.
• Any resident located within 1km of the blast site must be made aware of each blasting event at least two weeks in advance.
• No mechanical “rock breakers” (except crushers) of any kind can be used as part of the extractive operation.
• Records must be provided of quantities of material extracted/removed from the site, as well as truck movements, on a monthly basis.
