Displaying items by tag: Quarry

India: Commotion broke out at a public hearing seeking views on a proposed second quarry at a plant near Sendurai in Tamil Nadu for Ramco Cement. The police removed 13 attendees who threw chairs and caused disruption at the meeting, according to the Hindu newspaper. The hearing was organised by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board.

Spain: LafargeHolcim has decided to stop the expansion of its limestone quarry at its Sagunto cement plant. It decided this due to environmental issues with the local government and the lack of viable alternative for expansion in the area, known as Margas.

Lafarge originally signed at agreement with the government to expand the quarry in 2013. However the one licence requires renewal in 2017 and the local government has opposed the request.

Brazil: InterCement has sold two quarries, Guarulhos and Barueri, in São Paulo state to Polimix Concreto for US$25m. The sale includes the properties, assets and exploration rights of both quarries.

The quarry sales follows a sale of a 16% stake in Yguazu Cementos (Paraguay) for US$35m that was announced on 21 December 2015. In that sale InterCement retained a 51% stake in Yguazu Cementos to retain control of the subsidiary. The remaining share capital share capital was held by InterCement's Paraguayan partner Concret Mix.

Together both sales form part of a set of initiatives to strengthen InterCement's capital structure and increase its profitability. As part of its announcement the company highlighted the stoppage of underused plants, the divestment of concrete units in Brazil, the sale of non-strategic assets, pricing reviews and reduction of costs and expenses.

Malaysia: Quarrying at Gunung Kanthan, Perak by Lafarge Malaysia has alarmed green groups, who said that work has encro¬ached close to 'sensitive' areas. A small hill within the limestone mountain's southern area was reportedly mined in January 2015. Concern that rocks from Area B where the hill was located would be strewn along the adjacent Area C have caused fears that quarrying there would follow.

Gunung Kanthan, which is home to many endangered species of flora and fauna, is divided into several sections with Areas C and D located in the south. Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) president Henry Goh, who confirmed that quarrying had been conducted on the hill, cautioned that the removal of forestry there would have damaging effects on Areas C and D. Two new flora species were recently discovered in Area C, which is also home to nine species that are on Malaysia's Red List of Endangered Plants.

Goh said that Lafarge Malaysia had assured him that Areas C and D would not be affected. He also claimed that temples embedded in or around the mountain had received evacuation notices. Goh said that a biodiversity report by Universiti Malaya, commissioned by Lafarge Malaysia, had not been revealed.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has highlighted its concerns to Lafarge chairman Bruno Lafont. "We are concerned to learn that a road is being blasted immediately adjacent to Area C," said IUCN Species Survival Commission chairman Simon Stuart. He stated that Google Earth images showed that the forested valley next to Area C 'is being filled with rubble.'

Lafarge Mal¬aysia vice-president Mariano Garcia maintained that Areas C and D were out of the mining plans. He said that he did not know of the evacuation notices, but that monks and temple staff had entered the quarry site and verbally abused his workers. He also said Lafarge Malaysia had been trying to meet the Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) to no avail.

Australia: Wyanga Holdings, Australian quarry specialists, has settled out of court after it was taken before the Land and Environment Court for exceeding its extraction limits.

Wyanga Holdings, the New South Wales Roads and Maritime Services Department (RMA) and the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) were set to appear before Justice Sheahan at the NSW Land and Environment Court on 27 November 2013. However, Wyanga Holdings withdrew its appeal on the day over its Corindi Quarry licence issues and agreed to pay costs to the EPA and RMS in the appeal.

In August 2013 the EPA suspended Wyanga Holdings' licence for the quarry for seriously breaching the extraction limits on its license. Wyanga had extracted more than 368,000t of aggregate despite the extraction limit of 50,000t/yr.

Wyanga Holdings will now have to lodge a development application with Coffs Harbour City Council for consent to operate the quarry in excess of its original licence. The council rejected an earlier application.

US: Residents close to Lehigh Cement's Union Bridge cement plant that had been concerned over proposed changes to the mining provisions of the county code have largely had their worries addressed by Lehigh Cement Co., which is looking to expand its quarry in the town and transport limestone via a conveyor belt to its plant in Union Bridge.

Concerns about what time of the day Lehigh would be allowed to store excavated materials and how far away reclamation piles would be from property lines and public roads initially had residents worried about the impacts of the changes sought by Lehigh, a cement manufacturer that employs many residents in the area.

However, after discussions with residents about the proposed changes, residents confirmed that Lehigh had addressed most of their issues.

"They listened, we listened and the relationship at this point in time is pretty decent," said Brian Mobley, chairman of the New Windsor Community Action Project, which was initially concerned about the changes proposed by Lehigh to the mining provisions. Residents had feared that noise and lights late at night could be a nuisance to those who live near the quarry.