Waterhouse mining venture
• Eight sites across the Waterhouse Conservation Area have been earmarked for sand mining.
By Taylor Clyne
December 09, 2020
A large-scale sand mining proposal is in the preliminary stages of approval with Mineral Resources Tasmania (MRT) by company Austrak who have earmarked eight sites for potential extraction.
The multimillion-dollar application spans more than 1,500 hectares across the Waterhouse Conservation Area and at Single Tree Plain which are all on Crown Land.
Austrak lodged the application back in February of this year but information of the proposal has newly been made available to the public.
Mayor Greg Howard said the consortium had also purchased the old pulp mill site at Bell Bay which features a ship loading facility.
“The intention is to mine some of the dunes so they don’t roll in over the grass paddocks and take over precious pasture from farmers, in doing so they will extract some precious metals out of the sand and export the remainder to the building industry on the mainland,” he said.
“Their plan is to build a processing facility on Saltwood Road, West of Bridport, with the purpose of employing up to 100 people to remove some of the minerals in the sand for export.”
Mayor Howard explained the location of the proposed leases include the sand dunes behind Waterhouse Dairies extending to Eastwood behind Marengo and Barooga properties, Blackmans Lagoon and behind Waterhouse Homestead.
“There is already sand being mined at Richard Sattler’s and Elizabeth Hall’s properties and that sand is being used by the local building industry.
“This proposal is separate to this existing work.”
A MRT Departmental spokesperson said they are currently assessing the applications in accordance with the Mineral Resources Development Act 1995.
“Austrak has indicated they intend to supply the domestic, national and international markets. “The sand would be primarily for construction purposes,” the spokesperson confirmed.
It's understood consultation with the landowners is underway and the impact on their day-to-day operation should be minimal.
Access to the Waterhouse Conservation Area will still be maintained to the public via Blackmans Lagoon Road and the Homestead Road.
There is no intention for this to be closed.
Boom gates that were installed in early March were erected by Crown Lands to stop people going to their shacks during the Covid lockdown and are unrelated to the mining proposal.