This continues a series of caches that highlight quarries, current and past, around the greater Dunedin area. The hides are all straightforward and are small containers so BYOP. Please disregard the number in the log and/or container. This was for a final additional cache which has since been archived. Warning- prickles near GZ!!
This is the well-known Blackhead Quarry. Quarrying here started in 1947, operated by Grey & Son. Ownership of the quarry passed in 1986 to Blackhead Quarries Ltd, a joint venture company formed by Palmer & Sons and Fulton Hogan. The quarry is on a headland that juts out into the sea. In 1991 a conservation covenant was agreed to preserve the headland and rock features at sea level. This is the reason why the area to the right (when viewed from GZ) has been left intact and extraction moved further left. The operators have made a conscious decision not to pursue the common practice of screening the quarry from public view with plantings and bunds. The feeling is that given the location attempts to screen the quarry would actually look worse than simply making an effort to make the quarry "fit in" to the natural surroundings.
$3 million has recently been spent upgrading the crushing and screening plant here and the quarry is estimated to have a further fifty years of life. Rust is a huge problem here due to the proximity to the ocean and the previous plant had largely deteriorated due to rust alone.
This quarry produces very high grade aggregates including road sealing chip. It also produces all of the railway ballast used throughout Otago.
Random Quarry Fact- Did You Know? The construction of one kilometre of new highway requires approximately 4000 tonnes of aggregates!