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Project Highlights

• The Project will deliver 1.1 million tonnes per annum of high-quality, fully graded construction sand and 300,000 tonnes per annum of specialty sands, glass sands, and kaolin clay, to the Sydney market,
• Rail transport to Sydney for processing - no road transport,
• No on-site processing, thus no dangerous tailings dams adjacent to Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area (GBMWHA),
• Resource removed by innovative state-of-the-art surface mining technique - low noise and dust emissions, eliminates need for primary crushing and trucks on-site, more cost-effective than conventional methods,
• Off-site processing to use filter-press technology - less water, complete utilisation of all resource components with no residual waste,
• Progressive rehabilitation using terraced landscaping of mine walls with native vegetation grown in to-be-established local native nursery from seed stock collected from the site before the commencement of operations,
• Extraction will occur in a staged manner, lessening the total area disturbed at any one time, mitigating the proposal's visual impact,
• 50-70m buffer with National Park, and 200 m buffer with nearest residents,
• No groundwater disturbances as there are no affected aquifers, however, there will be ongoing groundwater monitoring for the life of the Project,
• No uncontrolled discharge of seepage water - all discharges (max. 1ML/day if necessary) to be treated to Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council (ANZECC) standards,
• Surface water management plan caters for 1:100 72hr Annual Return Interval ("ARI") rainfall event,
• Seepage water will provide Newnes Junction residents with town water, water for native plant nurseries, irrigation of terraced walls, and will be used for dust suppression,
• Provision of wildlife corridors and improved fire fighting access to National Park.