transport | community | industrial & mining | carbon & energy
Desktop Noise Assessment Forcett House Quarry
Prepared for: Tinning Earth Moving Client representative: David Tinning Date: 7 October 2015 Rev 00
pitt&sherry ref: HB15478H001 Rep Rev00/LD/dn
Table of Contents 1. Introduction and project background .................................................................................................... 1 2. Quarry location and details .................................................................................................................... 1 3. Regulatory Framework ........................................................................................................................... 1 4. Noise sources ......................................................................................................................................... 2 5. Locations of sensitive use properties and calculated noise levels ......................................................... 4 6. Product transport ................................................................................................................................... 7 7. Findings and conclusions ....................................................................................................................... 7
List of figures Figure 1 Location of current and future operations ...................................................................................... 3 Figure 2 Proposed quarry layout including equipment location ................................................................... 4 Figure 3 Location of sensitive use properties within 1km of the proposed quarry ...................................... 6
List of table Table 1 Equipment and assumed sound power level ................................................................................... 2 Table 2 Predicted noise levels at Forcett House ........................................................................................... 5 Prepared by: …………………………………………………. Date: 8 October 2015 Linda Drummond Reviewed by: …………………………………………………. Date: 8 October 2015
Ian Woodward Authorised by: …………………………………………………. Date: 8 October 2015 Ian Woodward
Revision History
Rev No.
Description Prepared by Reviewed by Authorised by Date
00 Desktop Noise Assessment Forcett House Quarry
L Drummond I Woodward I Woodward 08/10/2015
© 2015 pitt&sherry This document is and shall remain the property of pitt&sherry. The document may only be used for the purposes for which it was commissioned and in accordance with the Terms of Engagement for the commission. Unauthorised use of this document in any form is prohibited.
pitt&sherry ref: HB15478H001 Rep Rev00/LD/dn 1
1. Introduction and project background
Tinning Earthmoving Pty Ltd has been operating a Level 1 Quarry (1805P/M) in Lewisham (south eastern Tasmania) since 2006. This quarry has been used for constructing roads on the property and is now nearly worked out and has been partially rehabilitated. Tinning Earthmoving proposes to open a new quarry (1998P/M) located approximately one (1) km to the north east of the existing site. Both quarries are located on the same parcel of land. The quarry will be known as Forcett House Quarry. The area in which the proposed quarry will operate has already been partially developed by the applicant to supply materials on their own land. These works have exposed an area of resource and a portion has already been extracted. Tinning Earthmoving has requested that pitt&sherry undertake an desktop environmental noise assessment for Forcett House Quarry.
2. Quarry location and details
Forcett House Quarry is bounded by Gordons Reservoir and Forcett Lakes Golf Club to the south, agricultural land to the east and north and Pitt Water to the west. The golf club is owned by the applicant. The locations of the current and future proposed operations together with site access are shown in Figure 1. The quarry intends to use ripping and pushing to win the source rock. This rock will then either be stockpiled or crushed and screened on site. The proposed commercial operations will not exceed 5000 cubic metres annually. The proposed quarry layout (showing the existing and ultimate operations area) is shown in Figure 2.
3. Regulatory Framework
The relevant noise guidelines for this quarry are the EER Guidelines for Forcett House (EPA 2015), the Mineral Resources Tasmania Quarry Code of Practice 1999, the Sorell Planning Scheme and the environmental nuisance provisions of the Environmental Management and Pollution Control Act 1994 (EMPCA). A summary of these are provided below:
Regulations and Guideline Allowable limits or objectives
Forcett House Quarry EER Guidelines EPA 2015
Provide details of any mitigation necessary to achieve a sound pressure level of less than 50 dB(A) between 07:00-19:00 hrs at any residence within 750 m.
Mineral Resources Tasmania Quarry Code of Practice
Noise from activities in a quarry must not exceed 10 dB(A) above normal ambient noise levels during daytime operations (0700 to 1900 hrs weekdays and 0800 to 1500 hrs Saturdays).
Sorell Planning Scheme None stated
Environmental nuisance provisions of EMPCA
None stated – noise should not interfere unreasonably with a person’s enjoyment of the environment
pitt&sherry ref: HB15478H001 Rep Rev00/LD/dn 2
The Environment Protection Policy (Noise) 2009 has been established under EMPCA. The objective of this policy is to define environmental objectives with programs on how to achieve them. Part 7 of the policy provides indicative acoustic environment indicator levels, these list noise levels and associated health effects in different environments. These levels are from the 1999 World Health Organisation (WHO) publication Guidelines for Community Noise. These levels are designed to protect the noise amenity of an area. The relevant indictor levels for outdoor living areas are listed below.
Outdoor living area critical health effect(s) LAeq Time Base (hours)
Serious annoyance, daytime and evening 55 16
Moderate annoyance, daytime and evening 50 16
The EER Guidelines provided for the quarry and the amenity noise levels provided in the Environment Protection Policy (Noise) 2009 for moderate annoyance for protecting outdoor living amenity are both 50 dB(A). This will be the noise level the quarry is assessed against.
4. Noise sources
The equipment that will be used on site for extraction and processing together with their assumed sound power levels are listed in Table 1 below. No blasting will take place at this quarry. Table 1 Equipment and assumed sound power level
Operation Equipment and Quantity Power Assumed
sound power level dB(A)1
Ripping / pushing 1 x Komatsu D85 Dozer 220 hp 109
Loading / stockpiling 1 x Komatsu WA320 wheel loader 160 hp 107
Crushing 1 x ESBA Horizontal Impactor 260 hp 107
Screening 1 x Precision Screen Contractor 30 hp 109
The proposed hours of operation for the quarry are 7 am to 7 pm weekdays and 8 am to 4 pm Saturday. No work will be conducted on Sundays or public holidays. The likely locations of equipment are shown in Figure 2. Due to the size of the operations, the maximum pieces of equipment that will be used at any given time will be two – the most likely combination being the loader and crusher or loader and screener. At other times the dozer is likely to be working independently. The quarry is only likely to operate on an as needs basis. Work is therefore not expected to occur continuously throughout the operating hours.
1 The noise levels for the Komatsu equipment are from product specification sheets, the assumed noise level for the ESBA Horizontal Impactor is from a TEREX Powerscreen and noise from the Precision Screen Contractor is sourced from DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) Update of noise database for prediction of noise on construction and open sites. Phase 3: Noise measurement data for construction plant used on quarries. July 2006
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Figure 1 Location of current and future operations
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(Adapted from Figure 1 Forcett House Quarry – Notice of Intent, Integrated Land Management and Planning 28 July 2015) Figure 2 Proposed quarry layout including equipment location
5. Locations of sensitive use properties and calculated noise levels
Forcett House is the only identified sensitive use property located within 750 m of the mining lease. Noise levels have been calculated for two normal case operating scenarios: 1) the loader and screener operating simultaneously, or 2) the dozer operating alone (calculated from the shortest distance from the quarry to Forcett House). The loader and screening operating simultaneously was chosen as this is the louder combined noise source. A worst case scenario has also been considered, where the loader, screener and the dozer are all being used simultaneously. This is unlikely to occur in practice, however, due to staff numbers on site. The results are provided in Table 2. The noise levels at Forcett House were also calculated for the existing operations (1805P/M). These are also shown in Table 2, together with the differences between existing and future levels. Calculations were conducted using the following formula: SPL = SWL – 20(log r) + 10(log Q) – 11 dB(A) Where SPL = sound pressure level SWL = sound power level r = distance and Q = directivity factor.
Crusher
Ripping/Pushing
pitt&sherry ref: HB15478H001 Rep Rev00/LD/dn 5
Table 2 Predicted noise levels at Forcett House
Scenario
Noise level from existing quarry (ML1805P/M)*
dB(A)
Noise level from new quarry
(ML1998P/M)**
dB(A)
Difference
dB(A)
Loading & Screening 43.1 46.4 3.3
Dozer alone 41.0 45.6 4.6
All combined (worst case scenario)
45.2 49.0 3.8
* The distance from the existing quarry to Forcett House was assumed to be 1000 m for all scenarios. ** The distance from the new quarry to Forcett House was assumed to be 550 m for the dozer and 670 m for
loading and screening operations.
As shown in Table 2, the calculated noise levels from the new quarry operation are not anticipated to exceed 50 dB(A) for any of the scenarios and the increase in noise from existing to future is not expected to exceed 5 dB(A) for any of the scenarios. One additional residential property (Ashview) is located within 1000m of the proposed quarry. Forcett House and Ashview and shown on Figure 3 below. Because of its greater distance from the new quarry than Forcett House, noise levels and increases at Ashview would be less than those at Forcett House.
pitt&sherry ref: HB15478H001 Rep Rev00/LD/dn 6
Figure 3 Location of sensitive use properties within 1km of the proposed quarry
pitt&sherry ref: HB15478H001 Rep Rev00/LD/dn 7
6. Product transport
The proposed quarry intends to use the same access road and trucks that currently services the existing quarry (mining lease 1805P/M). This access road has previously been approved for this use by Sorell Council. Road access to the quarry is off Lewisham Road. The ultimate number of trucks accessing the quarry each day will depend on quarry activity but it is anticipated that no more than 4 trucks will be accessing the quarry each day (four (4) truck movements in and four (4) out per day for a total of eight (8) movements), and in some cases it will be less. Typical noise level from trucks movements on access roads is 80 dB(A) measured at a distance of 10m (DEFRA 2005). The closest point of the access track to Forcett House is 330m. Using the Long Straight Road algorithms in SoundPLAN, eight (8) truck movements spread over an operating day will result in a 16 hour LAeq of 24.5 dB(A) at Forcett House.
7. Findings and conclusions
The calculated noise levels at the nearest residence (worst case 49 dB(A)) from the proposed quarry do not exceed the 50 dB(A) limit specified by the EER guidelines. The calculations also show that the noise indicator level provided in the EPP (Noise) similarly will not be exceeded. Mitigation is therefore not warranted. For the worst case scenario of all equipment operating simultaneously, the increase in noise from the new quarry relative to the existing quarry is estimated to be 3.8 dB(A). While an increase of approximately four (4) dB(A) may be noticeable, it is substantially less than the maximum allowable increase specified by the Quarry Code of Practice. The locations of the stockpiles will provide additional incidental noise mitigation for Forcett House and so operational noise levels may be even less than that calculated. The transport of product will utilise the same access road that was established for the existing quarry on site and the number of truck movements is not anticipated to exceed eight (8) per day. While these individual trucks are likely to be audible from Forcett House, the number of movements is no more than currently occurs.
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