Telluric Sands lodges development application for sand quarry at Dilkoon in Clarence Valley

A multimillion proposal has been lodged for a massive sand quarry in a northern NSW area known to house koalas. Get your first look at the plans here.

The site for the Dilkoon sand quarry (in red), located off Summerland Way.

A tucked away region of the upper Clarence Valley known to harbour a significant number of endangered koalas could soon be home to a $2.4 million sand quarry.

Developer Telluric Sands has lodged a bold bid to create a “sand extraction industry” on 301 hectares of rural land near Dilkoon, off Summerland Way and bordering Fortis Creek National Park.

If approved, the company could soon be extracting 200,000 tonnes of sand per year for up to twenty years from a Dilkoon creek bed and unnamed tributary.

This means the quiet, rural area could soon welcome an average of 48 truck loads per day, with the possibility of the number rising to 100 during “peak haulage periods”.

Planning documents state the proposal includes environmental rehabilitation works to “benefit the creek flow and lead to improved biodiversity” in the area.

Part of the proposed Dilkoon sand quarry site.

The developer states the extracted sand is “of significant value and benefit to the local and regional economy”.

However, the site is also home to endangered species and the entire 301ha lot is considered “core koala habitat”.

The proposed quarry sits on a key corridor for koalas living in the neighbouring national park.

Evidence of koalas on the site were detected using scratch marks on trees and Song Meter wildlife audio recording.

Evidence of koala scratch marks were found on trees at the site.

If the development is approved, trees will be felled, but the documents state the developer would strive to reduce to impact on species by hiring a project ecologist and building koala exclusion fencing, among other means.

Clarence Catchment Alliance received pledges from the majority of this year’s state election candidates to not support any mining in the upper Clarence. It’s thought the development proposal may be met with some backlash

But the winner of the election, Nationals MP Richie Williamson, did not sign the pledge.

The development application will be determined by the Northern Regional Planning Panel in the coming months.

Members of the public can lodge submissions until September 4.