ENVIRONMENT IN FOCUS
Quarrying – temporary land-use with
potential to yield profits
Alan Cluett
This forms part of a series of articles on environmental management that will run in this magazine, which are
targeted at operational management as at CEOs, directors and shareholders of surface mining companies.
2
Quarries - a blight on the
landscape?
Traditionally communities at
large see quarries as destroyers
1.
2.
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In 2006 and 2015 , I presented
papers to the industry on
quarry rehabilitation and the
opportunities that quarry-
closure presents to the
forward-thinking manager.
In essence, the magnitude of
these future opportunities
depends on our thinking
and planning right now –
similar to planning for a good
retirement.
Both presentations examine
the opportunities presented
to quarry operators to reduce
operating costs associated
with rehabilitation during
the life of a quarry, while also
maximising opportunities
upon a quarry’s closure.
The three main areas of
opportunity include:
1. Reducing the financial
resources assigned
to unproductive
rehabilitation provisions;
2. Avoiding unnecessary
costs upon closure
because of a pre-
determined end-use; and,
3. Enhancing opportunity
costs associated with
optimising the future
end-use and working
methodically towards it
over the remaining life of
a mine.
Alan Cluett
of the environment during
their operational life. Then,
upon closure, as unsightly and
unsafe scars on the natural
environment, often left for
surrounding communities to
manage at their expense. Sadly,
in a number of instances, this
has been the case.
Quarries – temporary
land-use
We need to change our thinking
about rehabilitation. We need to
see rehabilitation not as a future
event but rather as an ongoing
practice that we actively manage.
We need to see quarrying as
a temporary land-use that
Colleen Cluett
provides current benefits and
serves to create a landscape for
the next (temporary) land-
use. We need to be creative
in our thinking; abreast of
community needs now and
collaborate with communities
and planners about their
possible needs in the future.
As an example, consider
your hometown. Can you
remember what it was like
when you were a child,
compared with the houses,
schools and parks that
are there today? Can you
remember changes that your
parents or grandparents
described to you?
‘The changing dynamics of quarry rehabilitation’ Institute of Quarrying / ASPASA Conference.
‘The changing paradigm of quarry rehabilitation’ IQ / ASPASA Regional Meeting on 30 October 2015.
34 _ QUARRY SA | MARCH/APRIL 2018
Each block in your
hometown may have
undergone a number of
changes to provide for the
needs of that generation, or
in instances, for more than
one generation. In essence,
these uses can be seen as a
temporary land-use – as is
quarrying.
What do we need to do
to optimise the value of
quarries?
Firstly, we need a change in
mindset – a paradigm shift.
We need to see quarrying
and quarrymen in a new
perspective: