For Immediate Release March 18, 2019
Flying rock fragments from quarry blasts near Rockwood, Ontario would threaten drivers on Highway 7 and nearby homes, residents say. Demanding provincial action to protect the public, the Concerned Residents Coalition today erected warning signs near the proposed Hidden Quarry site, at 6th Line Eramosa, just east of Rockwood on Highway 7. Flyrock – rock fragments propelled at up to 600 km/hour by explosives detonations – can cause property damage, personal injury and even death.
James Dick Construction Ltd. plans to blast within 75 metres of Hwy. 7 at its proposed Hidden Quarry. At greater distances, flyrock has killed at least two car passengers: on U.S. Interstate-75
and on Britain’s M1 motorway.
The Concerned Residents Coalition (CRC Rockwood) demands that the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry require a 500-metre ‘flyrock exclusion zone’ at the proposed quarry.
Flyrock exclusion zones protect local residents and commuters from injury and property damage from flyrock ejected by explosive blasting*. Scotland, Wales, Australia and Argentina require 500-metre exclusion zones for quarry and mine blasting, and according to the Mining Association of Nova Scotia, blasting is not permitted within 800 metres of residences** but Ontario regulations do not.
CRC Rockwood has invited John Yakabuski, Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry, to visit Rockwood and see first-hand why a flyrock exclusion zone is necessary. The Hidden Quarry site is on the north side of Hwy. 7 between Lines 6 and 7 (between Acton and Guelph), just east of Rockwood.
Flyrock ejected at up to 600 km/hour risks injuring:
• passengers in the average of 9,000 vehicles (including school and GO buses) that travel daily along a 1-km section of Highway 7
• people and animals in the 19 homes, farms and businesses within 500 metres of the proposed blast site
Flyrock is not a common occurrence, but geological factors and human error can produce unpredictable violent ejections. (Flyrock incidents in Ontario and elsewhere are listed in the CRC backgrounder on flyrock.)
• Statistically speaking, the Hidden Quarry could have 5 to 14 flyrock incidents each year, some of which might exit the site.
• Flyrock as large as one cubic foot (like a small microwave oven) has been propelled as far as 1.2 kilometres from a blasting site!
Personal injury and property damage from flyrock in Rockwood and other Ontario communities is preventable!
Minister Yakabuski can protect people who live and travel within 500 metres of blasting at all quarries in Ontario by imposing 500-metre flyrock exclusion zones.
The Concerned Residents Coalition is composed of more than 1400 residents from Halton Region and Wellington County. The organization began to research the potential impacts of the proposed Hidden Quarry in 2013. CRC is now a Party objecting to the application at a re-zoning and licence approval LPAT Hearing scheduled to begin on May 21, 2019.
*Mining Watch Canada, Buffer Zone Considerations for Mining Development in Proximity to Human Populations. July 2006 p. 12
**Mining Association of Nova Scotia, Not Your Grandfather’s Mining Industry
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