News Pits & Quarries
Quarry expansion takes another step to approval

Upper Canada Stone Co.’s plan to expand its quarry operations in Madoc Township is getting the go-ahead from Hastings County’s planning committee.

Committee members voted to recommend county council amend its official plan to allow the expansion by Upper Canada Stone Co., which is based in Oro-Medonte, Ont. but has eight quarries and a processing plant in the Madoc area.

The company operates a site known as the Chocolate Quarry on the south side of Scotch Settlement Road, west of O’Hara Road. The land is west of Highway 62 and north of Highway 7.

If approved, the expansion would allow the company to expand quarry operations onto an L-shaped, 22.6-hectare parcel along the existing quarry’s western and southern boundaries. It’s been dubbed the Mocha Quarry.

Company president Perry Hartwick said the company ships dimension stone, such as large limestone blocks used in landscaping, across Ontario. Between one-third and half of the inventory goes to the United States, including Michigan and Indiana. Some crushed aggregate is also sold, said Ken Hurford, a consultant retained by Upper Canada Stone.

Founded in 1991, the company also operates a 1950s processing plant along Highway 62. The Chocolate Quarry opened in 1974; Upper Canada’s operation of it began in 2000.

Hartwick said he employs at least 20 people, most of whom live in the township. The company paid nearly $750,000 in the last 12 months to vendors in the township, he added.

“We’re a fairly large contributor to the local economy.”

Expanding could increase the company’s reserves and the site’s longevity, said Hartwick. It would not, however, change the current output of 165,000 tonnes per year, he said.

(Recorder & Times)