Quarrying

Quarries provide earth materials such as sand, gravel, crushed rock and clay that are processed into raw material inputs for buildings and construction, agriculture and industrial processes. Australia is fortunate because nearly all our cities and towns have had access to nearby rock (or extractive) resources from which aggregates can be made. Aggregates are the processed rock, gravel and sand products that are used to help build houses, schools, roads, bridges, commercial and industrial buildings, airports, railways and other basic infrastructure to meet the needs of society.

Quarrying operators range from large publicly owned multi-national companies operating quarries throughout to smaller privately owned operators (often referred to as ‘independents’) based within a state or provincial area through to sole traders and municipal quarries serving provincial towns and more remote rural markets.

The industry utilises a wide range of equipment that includes wheel loaders, hydraulic shovels, excavators, rigid-frame trucks, articulated trucks, scrapers, track-type tractors, and carrydozers.