Rock Export To Lower North Island
Project Info: Rock Export to Lower North Island from the Taylors Balcks Quarry
Client: Taylors Contracting
Collaborators: Heron Construction, Sollys, Port Tarakohe, CentrePort
Project Description:
Taylors Contracting completed its first 3,000 tonne rock export from Port Tarakohe to the lower North Island.
Key Project Challenges:
Tight space constraints at Balcks Quarry and Port Tarakohe. Strict resource consent constraints for rock size, rock removal and storage of the extracted rock. Unfavourable weather conditions during the barge’s crossing via Cook Strait to Wellington.
Key Achievements:
Just over 21,200 tonne of rock was extracted from Taylors’ privately-owned Balcks Quarry in just 79 work days to comply with the quarry’s consented three-month annual operating window. A Taylors team of seven people commuted from Nelson to the quarry in Golden Bay Mohua each day to undertake the work.
The quarry site itself was extremely constrained for space so rock had to be extracted and stored offsite up until extraction from the quarry. This was exacerbated by the fact that the consent was only for one size range of rock. Everything smaller had to be carted out to an interim dump site. That rock will eventually be put back in the quarry site at the end of the quarry’s life.
Taylors was able to work collaboratively with the owners of the barge, Heron Construction, Sollys, and other Port Tarakohe users to load the barge over a two-day time period, with productivity exceeding Taylors’ plan of 120 tonne per hour. Taylors provided a ‘spotter’ on the ground to coordinate communication with all those operating on the site and to ensure that everyone could do their work safely and efficiently.
