Proposed Weston Plant

Holcim (New Zealand) Ltd proposes to build a new cement manufacturing plant at Weston near Oamaru, and is currently seeking approval to proceed from its parent company, Holcim Ltd. 

The plant would be a dry process plant using modern proven technology. Cement produced would be used to meet local demand throughout New Zealand. To enable the plant to operate at capacity from the outset, some clinker would be exported until local demand strengthens.

The Weston plant site is situated approximately 3km northwest of Weston and 7km west of Oamaru.

The main raw material quarries (limestone, tuff and siltstone) are immediately adjacent to the proposed plant site and a fourth material (silica sand) would be trucked from a pit near Windsor, 8km away.  The coal to fuel the kiln would be extracted from an opencast pit at Ngapara and trucked 19km to the plant.  All sites are owned by Holcim New Zealand. The cement plant and the main associated quarries would be located adjacent to the Weston-Ngapara Road, and lie within the Waitaki District Council Cement Policy Area.

The limestone escarpment between the quarry and the plant site would remain intact and the raw materials would be transported to the plant by a belt conveyor that passes through the hillside in a tunnel.  This would eliminate the need for trucking from the quarry to the plant site.

The disused branch railway line from the plant site to the South Island main truck line would be re-instated by KiwiRail and used to transport cement and clinker to the Timaru shipping terminal.

The plant has been consented to operate 24 hours per day, seven days per week.  There would be schedule maintenance shut down periods of 2-3 weeks at approximately annual intervals.

The tallest feature of the plant would be the preheater tower and the attached stack, approximately 100m tall.  Silos for the storage storage of clinker and cement would be approximately 50m tall, and the other main process structures 30-40m tall.