Australian concrete industry urges govt action as Tasmania sand supplies dwindle

Industry body Cement Concrete & Aggregates Australia on Nov. 27 called for urgent action by the government to ensure an affordable supply of local materials, following a recent report that confirmed the effective exhaustion of natural coarse sharp sand suitable for concrete making in southeast Tasmania.

The report, published by Mineral Resources Tasmania on Nov. 21, said the region had "effectively exhausted its available supply of natural coarse sharp sand suitable for concrete manufacture, forcing concrete producers to rely more heavily on transported sand from the north and northeast of the state at distances increasing from 35 km to more than 300 km."

This shift could inevitably drive up construction costs, stretch supply chains and jeopardize the affordability of major housing, transport and community infrastructure projects, the CCAA said.

"Concrete sand is essential to every home, road and piece of public infrastructure in the state. MRT's report highlights both the significance of this resource and the growing pressures on supply," CCAA CEO Michael Kilgariff said in a statement. "We now need the government to move quickly to implement the necessary policy and approval reforms that will unlock new supply and protect the state's future access to key resources."

CCAA said it has recommended a series of actions to the government, including streamlined approval processes for quarry operations to enable the industry to respond flexibly to market demand, faster assessment and granting of exploration licences and mining leases to bring new resources online sooner, protection of significant sand resources through improved land-use planning similar to successful interstate models, and better monitoring, reporting, and whole-of-market demand analysis to inform future policy and investment decisions.

"Without reform, Tasmania risks increased construction costs, uncertainty for industry investment, and a growing reliance on transporting sand from the north, adding price pressures, emissions and road impacts," Kilgariff said.

Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, assessed the CEMDEX Turkey price, reflecting ordinary Portland cement CEM I 42.5R (bulk), at $53/mt FOB on Nov. 28.