NSW Quarry Services was the successful tenderer for a contract to re-commence the operation of the council-owned Church Hill quarry.

The company has submitted a development application (DA) with the council to extract up to 450,000 tonnes a year of hard rock, which would be used as the base for the Pacific Hwy upgrade at Nambucca.

Quarry consultant Warren Wells said the council would stand to earn $2.50 a tonne, plus a road maintenance surcharge, if the company succeeded in gaining development consent.

“If the quarry operated at the rate we would expect over the next few years, a million tonnes would generate $3 million for the council,” he said.

“The commercial arrangement means we would pay royalties and road maintenance of $2.50 per tonne.”

Mr Wells said while the DA sought a production rate of 450,000 tonnes annually, this figure was nearly twice the anticipated output of up to 250,000 tonnes.

He said the production rate equated to the maximum number of trucks daily allowed over an entire year, under local govern and NSW planning regulations.

Of a maximum of about 200 production days a year, Mr Wells said, the usual operational total was up to 150 days a year.

“We’re restricted by weather, RDOs (rostered days off), public holidays and the need for materials,” he said.

“Demand for road construction material is not constant – it tapers up and down.

“You need to deliver 2000 to 3000 tonnes a day.

“That takes one hundred 32-tonne trucks a day at full capacity, or 62 trucks a day for 2000 tonnes.

“That could be for days at a time, or weeks at a time, depending on demand.”

NSW Quarry Services has also lodged a DA for the privately-owned Bates quarry – at Dondingalong to increase operations from 80,000 tonnes a year to 450,000 tonnes.

The company held site tours at both quarries on Saturday.

Mr Wells said the Church Hill quarry tour had been well attended, with good dialogue between residents and the company.

He admitted the Bates quarry tour had been "difficult".