cr157414

LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA: Sunshine Coast Regional Council

LOCATION: The resource is located downstream of the Bruce Highway along the floodplain of the Mooloolah River (see map KRA 49).

EXTRACTIVE RESOURCE: Sand

EXTRACTIVE RESOURCE DESCRIPTION: The resource consists of over 100 million tonnes of construction sand occurring in the alluvial flats of the Mooloolah River east of the Bruce Highway and north of Caloundra Road, known as Meridan Plains. The material consists primarily of fine to coarse grained quartz sand and some fine gravel, with some sections of clayey sand, sandy clay and thin clay bands, with an overburden of mainly stiff clay. Average thickness of the sand resource is 10 metres under overburden ranging from 0.5 to 7 metres thick.

SIGNIFICANCE: The resource is significant as it has the potential to supply the Sunshine Coast and markets on the northside of Brisbane over the long term, which on current trends will be otherwise deficient in sources of construction sand. The resource is therefore of State significance.

SEPARATION AREA: A full separation distance of 200 metres has generally been applied around the workable sand resource. This is constrained by rural residential property boundaries along Laxton Road on the northwestern boundary, and the Bruce Highway in the west.

TRANSPORT ROUTE: The existing Sattler's Road (Honey Farm Road) will be used to access the Caloundra Road in the immediate future. Transport routes from operations in the middle to eastern part of the resource may need to access Sattler's Road directly or via the part of Westaway's Road included in the resource area. Any operations in the far northeastern area, north of the water storage, may need to access major roads via routes not yet identified.

SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS: The KRA contains land classified as good quality agricultural land. The resource/processing area may contain an Indigenous cultural heritage site of State significance. As the potential for sediment run-off and damage to riparian vegetation exists, a minimum buffer width of 50 metres from the resource/processing area to the Mooloolah River has been established. The presence of acid sulfate soils is possible at depth. The KRA is covered by Strategic Cropping Land (SCL) Trigger Mapping under the Strategic Cropping Land Act 2011 administered by the Department of Natural Resources and Mines. This indicates the location of potential SCL and further onground assessment against the SCL criteria is required to confirm whether the area is or is not an SCL.