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These figures therefore suggest that quarries are major contributors
to regional job creation efforts; and as an industry is a major driver
of the national economy accounting for substantial revenues and the
creation of many thousands of direct and indirect jobs.
Aspasa director, Nico Pienaar, says these job creation figures are
yet another compelling reason for communities to be excited about
the proclamation of a new quarry. “A registered legal quarry, espe-
cially one belonging to Aspasa should be an asset to a community
by creating jobs and allowing for the construction of houses and
infrastructure to be developed within the surrounding areas.
“The research done in the USA by the Phoenix Centre for
Advanced Legal and Economic Public Policy Studies shows that
quarries are not only beneficial to the development of physical infra-
structure, but are also major contributors to the building of strong
local economies. Furthermore, it showed that the benefits lasted for
an extended period of time ranging from 20 years to longer.
“This effectively means that people can be employed within the
supply chain of a quarry for a lifetime. That means that everyone
from the quarry manager, to the machine operators, transport
providers, financial services, surrounding store owners and a host of
other beneficiaries can build long term plans and rely on the quarry
as a constant source of income.
“Given today’s requirement for strict health and safety
requirements, and with tight legislation guarding all environmental
aspects of a quarry, perhaps the time has now come for
communities to change their misconceptions about quarries and
to start viewing them as enablers of strong communities with solid
infrastructure that is sourced locally with lifelong benefits for the
entire community,” concludes Pienaar.
Quarries create employment for
surrounding communities
The value of well-run quarries in our cities and towns was
recently underscored by research suggesting that every
job in the quarrying industry creates a further five jobs in
downstream operations.