Lismore City Council shoots down bid to privatise Blakebrook Quarry

Lismore City Council has rejected a proposal to privatise Blakebrook Quarry as it eyes a $300 million bounty to fix its’ flood-wrecked road network.

A view over Blakebrook Quarry.

Lismore City Council will not lease Blakebrook Quarry to private Operator KIS Quarries after determining the proposed deal was not value-for-money.

The decision is in light of the fact that Lismore council would make more revenue by retaining the quarry as a public asset ahead of an estimated $300-$400 million worth of natural disaster roadworks to be done over the next three years.

Council found that due to the massive demand for asphalt for extensive repairs to roads across flood affected parts of NSW, sales of material from the quarry would increase drastically on previous non-flood years.

KIS was looking to pull 300,000 tonnes of asphalt out of the ground and pay council $3 per tonne in royalty. About 300,000 tonnes of rock can be pulled from the quarry annually and the council would receive $600,000 in revenue under that scenario.

However, council found that the unsolicited proposal was not value for money, and the offer was not unique enough in that it might not be trumped by other private operators should the Blakebrook lease go to open market.

KIS Quarries submitted its proposal in June last year to lease the Blakebrook operation on Nimbin Rd.

KIS already has a lease in effect with the neighbouring Richmond Valley Council for the Peterson Quarry.

KIS also wanted all of Lismore council’s truck and dog fleet thrown into the deal for delivery of materials between Peterson and Blakebrook Quarries.

If council had accepted the offer, they would have been buying materials back from the private operator at a nine per cent discount on market price to fix Lismore roads.

The unsolicited proposal was also knocked back due to a lack of competitive tender for the lease.

KIS Quarries would not be responsible for “rehabilitation and restoration” of the site, leaving it to the ratepayer once the lease was up.