ENVIRONMENT IN FOCUS
The UK is more advanced than South Africa in regard to quarry rehabilitation, with most of its gravel pits having become water recreation
areas for sailing and more.
and groundwater quality and quantity,
which are the major complaints received at
public hearings. “We can test some of the
allegations: for instance, there is a process
whereby we can assess the structural
integrity of buildings to determine if they
have been affected by a blast event,” says Hex.
Design for closure
Rehabilitation of a quarry can have quite
a different outcome to rehabilitating a
mine. After all, a mine has to be located
precisely where the mineral is located —
and though the same may be true for a
quarry, the feasibility of any quarry dictates
the prevailing motivation to locate a quarry
near to its market.
Cluett Consulting has developed
a rehabilitation model which looks at
reducing operating costs associated with
mine rehabilitation while maximising
opportunities upon a quarry’s closure. This
is aimed at ensuring a quarry closure does
not create an economic vacuum within
the local community that often developed
around the economic activity created by the
quarry — especially if it was the only
such generator.
32 _ QUARRY SA | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018
In a presentation he has prepared to initiate
a change in mindset among quarry owners
long before looking at closure, Cluett
Consulting’s Alan Cluett states: “An area we
are exploring is whether the infrastructure
left behind after quarry closure can be put
to new use. This involves viewing current
quarries as a ‘temporary land use’ and that
quarry owners are the ‘architects’ of the
quarry’s next end use.”
Cluett defines ‘sustainability’ as being
not just the sustainable use of the mine,
but sustainability of the surrounding
communities. Where quarries differ
from many mines, is they are frequently
located either within urban areas as they
have been located near to their markets
that have either grown up around it, or a
town has enclosed it over the lifetime of
the quarry, which itself has been core to
the development of the local area. Such
locations become ideal for residential or
commercial purposes, like Eagle Canyon,
or a mixed-use complex such as Tygerberg
Valley. “These quarries commenced in rural
areas but became urban over time because
of the nature of the activity: mining a high-
volume low-value product where transport
is the single biggest factor in its viability,
and they consequently try to locate themselves
as close to their market as they possibly can.”
Jukskei Quarry and Canyon Rock
Rossway Quarry were originally located
far out of town surrounded by nothing but
veld, but today, are almost surrounded by
industry and housing estates. This occurs
because of their initial location, and also
the fact that a quarry has a long lifecycle
averaging 30–50 years — while some such
as AfriSam Ferro have been going for more
than a hundred years, and Natal Crushers
in Pietermaritzburg for 215 years.
This also means quarry managers have to
learn the skills of dealing with encroaching
neighbours. While the quarry may have
been there a long time and even be the
entire reason for the community gravitating
towards it, the fact may be that one day
those neighbours will be part of the mine’s
rehabilitation plan. So, quarry managers
need to be concerned not to raise too much
dust, and limit drilling and blasting within
limits. Such un-neighbourly behaviour
today could affect the later value of the
site and its rehabilitation. Quarry owners
therefore need to view the rehabilitation