Please note: this is an archived news article release

This article was published on Tuesday, 7 March, 2017. The information contained within may be out of date or inaccurate. News articles and media releases older than 60 days are archived for future reference.

Having a blast at the Cosgrove landfill site

Council owns and operates the Cosgrove Landfill Facility, located approximately 20 kilometres to the east of Shepparton. As the current active landfill site (Cosgrove 2) is nearing the end of useful life, Council commenced the construction of the Cosgrove 3 Landfill site in February 2017, ensuring continuous landfill services for the community.

Greater Shepparton City Council Director Infrastructure Steve Bowmaker said the present construction phase involved drilling, blasting, haulage and stockpiling 2.2 million tonnes of rock and soil to create a subgrade layer which is the foundation of waste containment systems.

“The awarded contractor is utilising large scale mining equipment to meet the expectations and timelines specified by the Council.”

The equipment utilised in this large scale excavation includes:

Four 65 tonne trucks hauling over 13,000 tonnes per day;
One 190 tonne excavator with a 12 cubic metre bucket (approx 25 tonne rock) loading the trucks hauling the rock;
Two drill rigs drilling over 800m per day;
Explosive trucks carrying 9 tonne of explosives to blast approximately 29,700 tonnes of material.

“The footage captured today was a blast that created approximately 59,400 tonne of fragmented material for haulage,” said Mr Bowmaker. “Nineteen tonnes of explosives were utilised in a very skilled manner to create a profile for cell construction design using best practice blasting.”

Please note blasting was carried out on a closed site following best practice for this activity. Members of the public are reminded that there is no access at the site which is strictly controlled.