Norddeutsche Naturstein GmbH

Special partnership between a hard rock open pit and a spa located in a nature reserve Germany’s biggest hard rock quarry with a production of approximately 3 million tons per annum is located in Flechtingen, SaxonyAnhalt. The town is surrounded by a nature reserve and two health cure clinics and the picturesque historic town centre of Flechtingen are in close proximity to the quarry. Flechtingen has borne the seal of approval of a “climatic spa” for 10 years. Through consequent cooperation on a local level and consideration of all the interests of an up-and-coming climatic spa, all conflicts could be avoided which often arise when a quarry and municipality are in close proximity to one another. In the early 90s the excellent contact between municipality and quarry resulted in the transfer of the processing plants, after they had been planned and constructed, to deeper levels in order to minimize noise emissions. Keeping the equipment indoors and using state-ofthe-art dust filtering equipment are a matter of course. A lot has also been done with regard to mobile equipment. Some examples are as follows: • using road sweepers and vehicles for spraying water on dry days • fitting the bodies of mining trucks with 100 mm of rubber to reduce noise • attaching cameras to the backs of all mobile equipment so that reverse alarm beepers needn’t be used. Shipping has also been totally reorganised to minimize inconvenience to the residents: • The proportion of shipments by rail was increased from 2% to 28%. A new loading station is served by a 460 m long conveyor belt. • A 2.64 km bypass was built by the operators of the quarry for shipments by lorry. In addition, the concern contributed to a further 2.4 km of the bypass. It is, however, not only technical measures which characterise the cooperation between quarry and municipality. Offers such as the following provide information and create confidence: • observation platform with information boards • guided tours of the quarry • open days The Mayor, Dr Dieter Schwarz can state: “Together we have managed to do justice to the demands of a highly productive company and to the requirements of an up-and-coming climatic resort”.