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July 2015 – November 2022
This contract was for the drilling and blasting at 5 council-owned quarries as and when required to maintain stockpiles of graded armour rock at each quarry to be used for maintenance and capital works. This also included disposing of the blast-generated waste material to dump.
Throughout the 7-year duration of this contract, MBD’s quarry crews produced over 80,000 tonnes of graded rock for the West Coast Regional Council stockpiles at the 5 nominated quarries (Kiwi Point, Camelback, Inchbonnie, Okuru and Whataroa). A further 100,000 tonnes of rock was produced at the Inchbonnie Quarry for our use on other projects we had during this contract under a royalty-based agreement with the Council.
After the contract was awarded in 2015, the introduction of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 in 2016 brought significant changes to the regulatory landscape in the quarrying industry. In response to this new legislation, we undertook a comprehensive review and upgrade of our quarrying operations to ensure full compliance and enhance safety standards. This included significant improvements to our onsite health and safety protocols, the upgrade of facilities, roads, and extraction methods, as well as enhancements to benching practices. Additionally, we invested in upgrading all of our explosive magazines to meet the more stringent safety requirements.
As part of our commitment to maintaining the highest standards, we also ensured that all seven of our A Grade Quarry Managers underwent a series of specialized training courses. This was necessary to upgrade their Certificates of Competency and align with the new extractive industry regulations, ensuring that our management team was fully equipped to oversee operations in compliance with the latest legislative requirements.
