Ambitious Mining Project planned for Dean Quarry Lizard Peninsula

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harry potter

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With regard to the proposed re-opening of the gabbro mines (Dean Quarry) just south of the Manacles to provide stone, firstly for the Swansea Tidal Lagoon Renewable Energy Project (and then up to 5 others), can anyone throw light on problems that may be encountered docking and embarking 50,000 ton Self Discharging Bulk Carriers of approximate length 250 meters from these shores?
Tidal range, currents, the effects of prolonged spells of strong easterlies, the desecraton of a Marine Conservation Zone, all appear to have little relevance.
For more info see www.cads2015.com. There is a Facebook site.

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Is this not the quarry that was operational until fairly recently - I have definitely seen stone carrying ships in a quarry dock down that bit of coast.

Anyway I cannot see how this project would make the slightest reallife difference to " bird breeding grounds and stop off points for migratory birds, as well as threaten the bottlenose dolphins, grey seals, minke whales and basking sharks which are all regularly seen off the coast here.". Instead its the usual british disease of objecting to absolutely everything. Just think if we had had the current planning system back in the stone age era absolutely nothing of modern britain would have been built because everything is always a threat to the existance of wildlife.

People are more important than other animals. But in any case the animals adapt to change.
 
You are right – ‘it is a privilege to live in our area’ - but our area would not even exist as it currently is, without the so many varied industries that have taken place over the last hundreds of years.
So I consider that the statements of - (CADS) Community Against Dean Super Quarry
- must rate as one of the most biased NIMBY rants I have ever read.
Cornwall - even The Lizard - needs investment, business, jobs etc. and without the previous removal of granite from the many mines throughout The County, very few of the actual sights tourists come to look at would even exist – buildings, castles, etc.

Your report states ‘Dean Quarry closed in 2006, having extracted 3 million tonnes of rock from the area, over 18 years’ Surely the very fact that it existed for so long without any serious problems actually negates many if not all of the points you raise:

• It will threaten the bird breeding grounds and stop off points for migratory birds. How will such a small area have the effect you state?
• Threaten the bottlenose dolphins, grey seals, minke whales and basking sharks which are all regularly seen off the coast here. Such a ridiculous statement is beyond a sensible answer.
• Pollution including noise pollution caused by heavy explosions from 9am to 5pm on weekdays, and on Saturday mornings. Constant explosions? Are we really supposed to believe this?
• Loading of the ships would continue around the clock. Impossible, the tides would prevent it.
• A large amount of heavy machinery risks oil pollution - Please quantify.
• ammonium sulphates in the explosives can cause compound runoffs containing nitrogen. In turn this can affect the water with potential for increased turbidity and algal growth, further damaging the marine environment. Again - please quantify.
• Huge harm to the tourism industry, currently the main source of income in the area. – yet once again - please quantify.
• one of the planned routes for the tankers is directly past Roskilly’s Organic Farm which receives around 55,000 visitors per year and employs 35 people. How many will be employed at the new quarry
• Their trade would be devastated by such a development and the noise and pollution it would bring. - Why
• The fishing industry … would also be adversely affected. – How? The quarry is on land.
• Health problems caused by airborne silica dust. In 2009 the WHO reaffirmed that crystalline silica is a known carcinogen and in very small amounts this can cause silicosis, pulmonary disease and cancer. It creates breathing problems for people who have asthma, emphysema and other lung diseases. – We must stop tourists from going on our beaches. – Silica sand.
• There are only three other coastal super quarries on the western seaboard of Northern Europe and for health reasons they are all in remote areas. I presume the existence of the rock they are quarrying has no bearing on their position?
 
Dean Quarry was open for many more years than the eighteen quoted prior to 2006.
I was Mate of a ship,Olna Firth, which loaded a full bulk cargo of road stone at Dean Quarry in 1970. The only problem we encountered was getting the conveyor stopped as the ship approached her marks. We sailed with the well deck awash and the hatch wedges floating out of the freeing ports. I can't remember anything about a draft survey, either at the quarry or on the Thames, so we obviously got away with it.
The jetty was pristine and the water in the harbour was gin clear under the working lights.
 
No comment in general, but the web-site appears to be in error in referring to "silica dust". Gabbro is derived from a highly basic magma, and there is (by definition) very little silica (less than 5%) in Gabbro. So the health risk is far less than they claim.
 
Wino said:
...I consider that the statements of - (CADS) Community Against Dean Super Quarry
- must rate as one of the most biased NIMBY rants I have ever read....

• one of the planned routes for the tankers is directly past Roskilly’s Organic Farm which receives around 55,000 visitors per year and employs 35 people. How many will be employed at the new quarry

...
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+1!

That one in particular struck me as absurd: what tankers? Do they mean ships? (carrying aggregate so not 'tankers' in the oil tanker sense anyway).

If so, ships can not be more frequent than one every two or three days. In Falmouth bay, all the way past the Manacles to well south of Black head there are maybe 15 ships at anchor. Many or most are there for bunkering and so the oil-tanker runs back and forth all day and all night 7 days a week. I don't think that Roskilly's (excellent - I particularly recommend gooseberry) ice cream will be affected by one more ship on the horizon - actually the emmets rather like gazing at shipping. It might make one of my favourite quiet anchorages a little less quiet, and the run along that bit of the coast path less pleasant, but I wouldn't put one person, let alone several, out of a much needed job just for my very occasional convenience.

If they mean lorries carrying diesel fuel for the mining plant, that's maybe one lorry a week? Compare that to tractors and tourists's cars...

By the way, how is the Eden Project doing for visitors these days? All put off by the Gypsum industry?
 
Trust Twister_Ken to think laterally!

Twister_Ken said:
Could it make a useful marina (like Beaucette) when commercial operations cease?
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I'm not sure anyone here fully appreciates the extent of the proposed mining works at Dean Super Quarry.

The drowned works would be very serious competition for Falmouth Harbour as a marina - and that's a good thing I hear you say!

Meanwhile lets destroy what little natural countryside we have left in the name of corporate greed.

Iceland has a lot of Gabbro - or kitchen worktop stone, as it is more generally known.
 
Before people go banging on about silica and it's dangers in the context of this mine I suggest they read a little about respirable silica, hence the very valid comment about banning people from our beaches.

As for CADS they seem to be typical of the nimby single, vested interest protest groups that make any quarry planning application an expensive nightmare which they invariable fund there part from the local tax payers via the local council and planning department footing the legal bills when it eventually all goes to appeal. My blood pressure is so much mower now I don't have to deal with the idiots.
 
I have anchored off there several times, and late last year walked round the beach (which had like many local beaches had lost almost all it's sand after the gales that damaged harbours like Porthleven). Probably 40 or 50 years of mining and loading stone has created what is there now, and does not seem to have done much harm to the environment beyond the quarry area itself. It's not a natural piece of coast, and in fact is pretty ugly. A few more years of mining followed by a cleanup and conversion a la Beaucette might be OK, as long as all or the vast majority of mined stone went out by sea.
 
harry potter said:
I'm not sure anyone here fully appreciates the extent of the proposed mining works at Dean Super Quarry.

The drowned works would be very serious competition for Falmouth Harbour as a marina - and that's a good thing I hear you say!

Meanwhile lets destroy what little natural countryside we have left in the name of corporate greed.

Iceland has a lot of Gabbro - or kitchen worktop stone, as it is more generally known.
Click to expand...

Importing from Iceland will up the cost, both cash and environmental, and will impact our balance of payments.

What about the potential for employment at the quarry? Perhaps some of the local people put out of a job when it closed?

Pardon my cynicism, but what proportion of CADS members were born or earned a living in the area? My experience of such protests is that they are usually led by wealthy incomers with the resources and contacts to reorganise the area to their own entire satisfaction and to hell with any remaining natives.
 
harry potter said:
I'm not sure anyone here fully appreciates the extent of the proposed mining works at Dean Super Quarry.

The drowned works would be very serious competition for Falmouth Harbour as a marina - and that's a good thing I hear you say!
Click to expand...

Yes, absolutely.

harry potter said:
Meanwhile lets destroy what little natural countryside we have left in the name of corporate greed.
Click to expand...

Er, no. It is called commercialisation .... or jobs. Much needed, I think.

harry potter said:
Iceland has a lot of Gabbro - or kitchen worktop stone, as it is more generally known.
Click to expand...

But, surely it is greener not to ship stone all the way from Iceland, but to get it from closer to home. Or, do you really want the disturbance to be in their "back garden", not yours?

Surely you didn't expect to get support to your objections from a sailing forum. :)
 
sarabande said:
AP

perhaps a bit more silica in it than may be thought.

If you check this mafic felsic digram..

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=mafic+felsic+diagram&tbm=isch&imgil=_wYgfgb5WviCeM%253A%253BohIIHOqpVQ0UqM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fbc.outcrop.org%25252FGEOL_B10%25252FDlecture4.html&source=iu&pf=m&fir=_wYgfgb5WviCeM%253A%252CohIIHOqpVQ0UqM%252C_&usg=__VrgOnxuUntg_GqnHDlp0v74IeiA%3D&biw=1024&bih=1167&ved=0CDsQyjc&ei=9hrrVLfXJImwUdu-gYgL#imgdii=_&imgrc=_wYgfgb5WviCeM%253A%3BohIIHOqpVQ0UqM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fbc.outcrop.org%252Fimages%252Frocks%252Figneous%252Fpress4e%252Ffigure-05-04.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fbc.outcrop.org%252FGEOL_B10%252FDlecture4.html%3B1260%3B1000
Click to expand...

You're misreading the diagram (which in fact shows that there is no free silica present in basalt or gabbro). Mineral compositions are often specified in terms of simple oxides (as shown on the bottom of the diagram), but in fact the minerals present are complex silicates (in Gabbro's case, olivine, pyroxenes and amphiboles). There is little free silica in Gabbro, but any phase diagram will show silica as one axis as it is, of course, a major constituent oxide of almost all rock-forming minerals.

Basically, yes, there is silicon and oxygen present, but very little of it is present as free silica.

Gabbro is essentially defined by the lack of free silica.
 
AntarcticPilot said:
You're misreading the diagram (which in fact shows that there is no free silica present in basalt or gabbro). Mineral compositions are often specified in terms of simple oxides (as shown on the bottom of the diagram), but in fact the minerals present are complex silicates (in Gabbro's case, olivine, pyroxenes and amphiboles). There is little free silica in Gabbro, but any phase diagram will show silica as one axis as it is, of course, a major constituent oxide of almost all rock-forming minerals.

Basically, yes, there is silicon and oxygen present, but very little of it is present as free silica.

Gabbro is essentially defined by the lack of free silica.
Click to expand...

Let alone respirable silica.
 
I had a look at what's available about this development. As I understand it:

- the quarry recently was up for sale (and I assume changed hands as a result).
- it has an existing licence to extract a further 6.3 million tonnes valid until 2035 and is not abandoned. It was, however, mothballed.
- this new plan does not involve landwards extension of the quarry beyond the existing licence.
- there is no need for planning consent to vehicles coming and going as they have been doing for many years.
- the quays are in poor repair (I know that; I've anchored off them and walked that coast) so will need repair and probably extending. If so that will need planning consent.
- It's quite likely that additional temporary buildings will need to be put on site for worker's canteens/loos, workshop etc. These may also need planning consent (like a farm making a new cow shed)

It doesn't seem that big a deal really. If I were a neighbour who was against it then I'd not be putting forward specious and invalid arguments against something already allowed - these will be ignored by the planning inspector so are a waste of breath - but I'd be trying to get an agreed plan for the tidy-up after the extraction is finished. This is quite likely to be the last gasp of the quarry. A marina is implausible: no land access, exposed to the east and would be much, much worse for the rural idyll.
 
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petehb said:
Before people go banging on about silica and it's dangers in the context of this mine I suggest they read a little about respirable silica, hence the very valid comment about banning people from our beaches.

As for CADS they seem to be typical of the nimby single, vested interest protest groups that make any quarry planning application an expensive nightmare which they invariable fund there part from the local tax payers via the local council and planning department footing the legal bills when it eventually all goes to appeal. My blood pressure is so much mower now I don't have to deal with the idiots.
Click to expand...

That's a bit strong! You sound like an Ex Regional Quarry Manager from some building firm like Ibstock. Location Grenoble.
 
jdc said:
I had a look at what's available about this development. As I understand it:

- the quarry recently was up for sale (and I assume changed hands as a result).
- it has an existing licence valid until 2035 and is not abandoned. It was, however, mothballed.
- this new plan does not involve landwards extension of the quarry beyond the existing licence.
- there is no need for planning consent to vehicles coming and going as they have been doing for many years.
- the quays are in poor repair (I know that; I've anchored off them and walked that coast) so will need repair and probably extending. If so that will need planning consent.
- It's quite likely that additional temporary buildings will need to be put on site for worker's canteens/loos, workshop etc. These may also need planning consent (like a farm making a new cow shed)

It doesn't seem that big a deal really. If I were a neighbour who was against it then I'd not be putting forward specious and invalid arguments against something already allowed - these will be ignored by the planning inspector so are a waste of breath - but I'd be trying to get an agreed plan for the tidy-up after the extraction is finished. This is quite likely to be the last gasp of the quarry. A marina is implausible: no land access, exposed to the east and would be much, much worse for the rural idyll.
Click to expand...


If it has a valid planning permission it will have a restoration plan attached to it depending on the planning department that issued it and their officers predilection for envisaging the future it may be specific or outline, may be backed by a bond or not.
 
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