The Boral Dunnstown Quarry is one of the company’s most significant regional operations in Victoria, providing aggregates to customers around Ballarat, the Melbourne metropolitan area, and the central and western regions.

Located next to Dunnstown, south-east of Ballarat, the quarry supplies around 650,000 tonnes of material per year.

A source of high-grade basalt aggregate, the quarry has supplied building, road and rail construction projects in and around Ballarat, Central and Western Victoria, and even the Melbourne urban area.

The quarry is Boral's largest operation in regional Victoria, producing up to 650 000 tonnes of material each year.

The Boral Dunnstown Quarry is one of the company’s most significant regional operations in Victoria, providing aggregates to customers around Ballarat, the Melbourne metropolitan area, and the central and western regions.

Located next to Dunnstown, south-east of Ballarat, the quarry supplies around 650,000 tonnes of material per year.

The site employs 22 people and many more local contractors. The site produces a high-grade basalt aggregate suitable for road construction, rail line construction and the manufacture of asphalt and concrete.

The plant is located on the quarry floor (‘in pit’), in line with current industry best practice. As the plant sits ‘below’ the surface of the surrounding landscape, the aesthetic appearance of the site aligns better with the rural character of the surrounding Dunnstown area.

Materials from Dunnstown have been included in a range of public and private infrastructure projects in recent years, most notably the Western Highway bypass of Ballarat, the Regional Fast Rail upgrade between Ballarat and Melbourne, the Waubra Windfarm project and the Ballarat West Employment Zone.

On this page you will find information about the rules and regulations to which Boral's Dunnstown Operations are managed.

The Dunnstown Quarry was established in 1978-79, with Boral Resources (Vic) Pty Ltd purchasing the quarry in 1980.

The quarry's main approval is Extractive Industry Work Authority 82 (WA822), issued under the Mineral Resources (Sustainable Development) Act 1990. This allows the operation of extractive activities at the site.

WA82 is supported by Planning Permit 053/97, issued by Moorabool Shire Council, which provides planning permission to operate the quarry. This permit is itself a requirement of WA82.

The rock at Boral Dunnstown Quarry is known as sheet basalt from the Quaternary Newer Volcanics. The basalt resource has a variable overburden cover ranging 3m to 6m in depth.

The resource rock itself is dense, grey, non-vesicular basalt with a thickness of up to 15m and is regarded in the construction industry as being a high quality resource from which aggregates are produced.

These aggregates form the base of building and construction materials such as concrete and asphalt and crushed rocks in pavement and road construction. Larger aggregates are regularly used for rail construction and maintenance.

Boral Dunnstown Quarry current approved hours of operations are 7:00am - 4:00pm Monday to Friday.

The main activities at the quarry include:

• Stripping - the removal of 'overburden' (soil, sub-soil and other material which sits on top of the hard rock resource);
• Drilling and blasting - use of controlled explosions to expose the hard rock for processing;
• Loading and hauling - transfer of rock to the processing plant;
• Crushing and screening - to produce the various grades of aggregate;
• Stockpiling, sales and transportation - storage and movement of products to market.

The movement of materials is a critical part of Boral's business. As with many large organisations, the ability to transfer volumes of raw resources and finished products is essential to the company's success.

To meet its needs, Boral manages a significant fleet of heavy vehicles and is a customer of a range of haulage contractors across Australia.

Boral recognises the safety obligations accompanying the large scale use of heavy vehicles on public roads. The business tries to ensure the highest standards of driving and vehicle maintenance are obtained to meet this objective.

We encourage all members of the community to give us feedback if they observe behaviour or incidents not aligning with this goal. Specifics such as time, location, vehicle registration and colour help us to further investigate and take appropriate action.

For vehicles associated with the Boral Dunnstown Operations, you can send us your thoughts via email.

On-site maintenance on plant and equipment is also carried out as part of daily operations.

The Boral Dunnstown Quarry satisfies its obligations under Work Authority 82 for environmental emissions.

Quarries, by nature, generate dust, noise and heavy vehicle movements. Activities are monitored by Boral and mitigated to acceptable standards within prescribed approval limits.

Dust mitigation at the quarry is mandatory, and is conducted through various methods.

The crushing plant uses a number of water sprays to supress dust levels, as well as ‘in-process water adding’ to make a wet product. A water truck with a fast-fill water supply system is also used to ensure that roads and stockpiles are kept moist during working activities.

Materials from Dunnstown have been included in a range of public and private infrastructure projects in recent years, most notably the Western Highway bypass of Ballarat, the Regional Fast Rail upgrade between Ballarat and Melbourne, the Waubra Windfarm project and the Ballarat West Employment Zone (BWEZ).

Boral’s ability to operate successfully at Dunnstown is supported by the relationship which has emerged between the quarry and nearby community. Accordingly, Boral is proud to have supported several local organisations important to Dunnstown residents.

These groups include the Dunnstown Football and Netball Club, the Dunnstown Community Centre, and the St Brendan’s Primary School. Boral has also been a proud contributor to the annual Dunnstown Mountain of Fun community run-walk around Mt Warrenheip, held each March to raise funds for worthy local causes.