cr154122

LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA: Tablelands Regional Council

LOCATION: The resource is located about 9 kilometres south of Atherton, on Wongabel Road, off the Atherton-Herberton Road (see map KRA 9).

EXTRACTIVE RESOURCE: Quarry Rock

EXTRACTIVE RESOURCE DESCRIPTION: The extractive resource, which consists of partly decomposed, coarse-grained granite, is an important source of road base materials for the Atherton Tableland area. At deeper levels some knobs of hard unweathered rock allow production of crushed aggregate. Two adjacent quarries are currently in operation. One site produces higher-class road base and some crushed rock aggregates from blasting and crushing of relatively fresh granite exposed in the floor of the quarry. The other site mainly produces lower-class road bases, maintenance gravels and fill by ripping of weathered granite.

SIGNIFICANCE: The resource is one of the main sources of road base for the Atherton Tableland market, supplying several local government areas and the Department of Transport and Main Roads, and considerable resources remain for the future. The Tablelands Regional Council is supplied, with some material transported as far as Cairns.

SEPARATION AREA: The separation area extends 1000 metres across Wongabel Road from the fresh granite face in Wongabel Quarry, as the land is flat and exposed to the processing area. On the southeast the boundary of the separation area is along a ridge trending southwards from the road at about the same distance. The northwestern boundary is the northern base of the ridge on which the workings of Cattle Camp Quarry are situated (where no blasting is undertaken). The southern boundary is in State Forest on the ridge about 400 metres uphill from these workings.

TRANSPORT ROUTE: The materials are transported along the partly sealed and partly gravel Wongabel Road either westward to the Atherton-Herberton Road or eastwards to Hemmings Lane and then the Kennedy Highway.

SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS: A small area of 'of concern' vegetation under the Vegetation Management Act 1999 occurs on the northwestern edge of the resource area. This is covered by pre-existing approvals. Some parts of the separation area and a small portion of the resource/processing area are covered by Strategic Cropping Land 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 on-ground assessment against the SCL criteria is required to confirm whether the area is or is not an SCL.