Modern Quarrying

MODERN QUARRYING

January - February 2016

much respected to this day. Some time

ago, he told

about the early days of

the Association where, in the 1960s, the

need for an industry association and a

professional body became an issue. “The

Transvaal was the first to form an asso-

ciation, and in 1969, the South African

branch of the Institute of Quarrying was

born in Durban. Other associations fol-

lowed around the country and it was in

the early 1970s that Agfed was formed.

“That body tried to make up issues on

behalf of the industry and to coordinate

industry opinion, but its weakness was

that its officers were all full-time employ-

ees of one or other of the quarrying com-

panies. For that reason, it could not claim

a full-time commitment of any one person

or group of people and its credibility with

the authorities was somewhat doubtful.”

He says Agfed was aware of these

weaknesses and in March 1990, called a

meeting of the captains of the industry at

the Institute of Quarrying conference in

Durban. “Out of this meeting, a steering

committee was nominated to investigate

HISTORICAL

FEATURE

‘I

t is a truism that no develop-

ments in South Africa, or for

that matter any other coun-

try, can take place without a

quarry’. This is taken from a

paper presented at an industry event in

1994, under the title

The South African

Quarry Industry – Who are We?

It follows

with: ‘And yet, because of the nature of

quarrying, it is not a favoured industry

among the general population. It tends to

be regarded as dusty, noisy and a blight

on the landscape. The nimby (not in my

back yard) syndrome is more strongly

applicable to quarrying than probably

any other human endeavour’.

So what has changed since 1994?

The industry has changed significantly

with major mergers and acquisitions

with a concentration of producers –

legal and illegal. But it still has high and

low volumes, ongoing skills shortages,

good times and very difficult times. Most

importantly though, it has raised the bar.

Once called the ‘cowboys’ of the mining

industry, credit must go to the Aggregate

and Sand Producers Association of

Southern Africa (Aspasa), which, since

its early beginnings as Agfed (Aggregate

Producers Federation of SA), has worked

tirelessly to get to this point.

The founder and previous director

of Aspasa and the Institute of Quarrying

(IQSA) Sir Rupert Bromley, is a man

‘It is a long-held adage in the industry that the oldest profession in

the world is that of a quarryman – because without a road to parade

up and down – the lady of the night would not have been able to ply

her trade. Not a road, not a railway, not a harbour, nor a building of

any kind larger than a grass hut, could have been created without

materials supplied from the quarry industry’.

Aspasa

– a professional body realising its dreams

AfriSam’s showplace Peninsula Quarry,

October 2015.