Salt Ash Sand Quarry NSW

After acquiring the site from Sibelco Australia Pty Ltd in April 2020, Holcim undertook a review of the Salt Ash Sand Quarry’s planning and approvals. Following this review, Holcim is seeking approval for continued operations at the site through a State Significant Development (SSD) application under Part 4, Division 4.7 of the NSW Environmental Planning & Assessment Act 1979 (EP&A Act).

Holcim is proposing to extract and process up to 550,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of sand at the site using both dry extraction and dredging techniques. Holcim is also proposing to import up to 200,000 tpa of sand from their other local extractive operations and Cabbage Tree Road quarry for processing at the site, resulting in a total of up to 750,000 tonnes of sand products processed and dispatched from the site per year (the project).

A development application (DA) for SSD must be accompanied by an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in accordance with Section 4.12(8) of the EP&A Act and the EIS must be prepared in accordance with the EP&A Regulation. Before preparing an EIS, an applicant must request the SEARs, which specify the issues to be addressed in the EIS.

A scoping report has been prepared by Element Environment Pty Limited (Element) on behalf of Holcim and submitted to the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE) to gain the Secretary’s environmental assessment requirements (SEARs) for the project. This scoping report identifies social and environmental factors that will require further detailed investigations as part of the environmental impact assessment that will be detailed in the EIS.

Holcim is not proposing any changes to the following as part of this project:

• Site access and transport routes
• Hours of operation

Employment at the site will grow as a result of this project providing the need for an additional four full-time roles, bringing the total direct full-time employment for the site to 14.

Community engagement

As part of the approvals process, Holcim is engaging with the local community to gain feedback on the proposed project. A project introduction letter with a link to an online survey was distributed to 125 properties in July. The letter was hand delivered and doorknock conversations were held to collect initial community feedback.

Further stakeholder engagement will be conducted as part of the EIS preparation and include the activities below, which form part of the Consultation and Communication Plan developed for the project.

Upcoming engagement actions and activities include:

• Establish a community hotline and email address
• Establish a public webpage with project and contact information
• Establish a Community Consultative Committee
• Email updates to subscribed community contacts
• Community information sessions
• Community newsletters
• Stakeholder meetings

Holcim is in the process of reviewing the Management Plans. Holcim will continue to monitor control measures.

• 2018 – Environmental Management Plan – Tanilba Northern Dune Extension
• 2017 – Groundwater Management Plan – Tanilba Northern Dune
• 2014 – Biodiversity Management Plan – Tanilba Northern Dune Extension
• 2014 – Landscape Management Plan – Tanilba Northern Dune Extension

• 2019 – Independent Environmental Audit – Sibelco Northern Dune Extension (MP09_0091)
• 2016 – Independent Environmental Audit – Tanilba Northern Dune

Registers of community complaints for all relevant Holcim sites are available at:

• Community Complaint Register