Is this the demise of dimension stone quarrying in Central Victoria?

With operating conditions restricting the re-opening of a productive Victorian granite stone quarry, BRUCE MCCLURE looks at the possible demise of dimension stone quarrying in Central Victoria.

THE CMPA was notified late last year by the DPI that the Work Authority for an established granite quarry (producing mainly dimension stone) on Mount Alexander at Harcourt, had lapsed with the previous operators having gone into liquidation.

The DPI indicated that one possibility for the site was that the quarry could be reopened with a new Work Authority (WA), and progressively worked and rehabilitated under an approved, contemporary work plan and rehabilitation bond. The quarry which is on Crown Land is part of the Mount Alexander Regional Park.

It has been operating there for many years, had apparently produced good quality stone and has a considerable quantity of stone left in reserve. Currently extraction of stone is permitted in a regional park, however any prospective businesses need to apply for a WA from Earth Resources, DPI and Parks Victoria would then need to provide land manager’s consent for a WA to be granted.

All CMPA Members were contacted to see if any member was interested in looking at the potential of the site or who knew of someone who may have been interested in reopening the quarry.

A number of members did respond, however, Parks Victoria who are the land managers, has since identified a series of issues that would need to be considered before any quarry operator could recommence extraction.

Late in December 2010 Parks Victoria detailed the following issues that they wanted addressed before extraction could resume on site:

• The existing Harcourt Granite site cannot be expanded beyond its current boundary without vegetation loss, and permission to remove vegetation is problematical. If it involved the loss of ballantinia, then (as an EPBC listed species), permission could be expected to be withheld.
• There is other interest (from Regional Development Victoria and Tourism Victoria) in the site for use as public open space which would provide an economic return to the community; this potential loss would have to be considered when assessing any application.
• The cost of rehabilitating the existing site is in the vicinity of $70,000, and if more works are to occur, the bond for a new WA is likely to exceed this amount.
• Parks Victoria has initiated the rehabilitation program and does not want to interrupt this work. If a proposal was to be submitted, then it would need to be within a short time frame prior to the rehabilitation works being completed.

The CMPA members who had initially expressed an interest were again contacted and were advised of Parks Victoria’s requirements for the site. A number subsequently decided that they no longer wanted to pursue the site.

Early in February 2011 a meeting was arranged on site for remaining interested parties, and representatives from both the DPI and Parks Victoria. Following this meeting only one member was still interested in possibly salvaging a quantity of stone that had been extracted but left on site, indicating that he would examine the economics of this proposition and would get back to the CMPA in March 2011. Following research, the member has indicated that it was not economical to salvage the extracted stone on site.

The DPI and Parks Victoria have since been advised that no members of the CMPA are interested in taking over the lapsed Work Authority or in removing extracted material on the site.

Whether the DPI intends contacting other potential quarry operators who are non members of the CMPA is unknown, but given Parks Victoria’s requirements it would seem unlikely that anyone would show an interest in this quarry.

Mt Alexander is well known for the quality of its granite and has seen the extraction of a considerable amount of dimensional stone over many years. Many buildings in Melbourne have Mt Alexander stone as part of their facades.

The Environment Conservation Council (now Victorian Environmental Assessment Council), in their Box-Ironbark Forests & Woodlands Investigation 2001 indicated that low levels of extraction of stone is permissible from a Regional Park but recommended that this activity be transferred to private land.

While there are two quarries still extracting dimension stone from Mount Alexander Regional Park and they have no intention in leaving their sites, there is just one dimension stone quarry on private land in the area. With the closure of the Harcourt Granite quarry we may just be seeing the beginning of the end of an era on the mountain.

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