Questions & Answers

Many different products are produced at the quarry. Stone destined for concrete manufacturing (such as cement powder) or the more granular products meant for infrastructure development (i.e. roads) make up the majority of the material produced. Our products can travel as far as London or the GTA, but are more frequently used in local projects. Supplying aggregate materials locally reduces greenhouse gas emissions produced during transportation and reduces the cost of these products for public infrastructure projects such as road construction and maintenance.

The Site Plan amendment will not change the current quarry hour of operations. The Woodstock Quarry will continue to operates 7am to 7pm Monday-Friday and 8am to 1pm on Saturday if necessary.

The Woodstock Quarry has been providing material in this area for approximately 65 years. We want to continue to strengthen our partnership with the community. If the stone was from the Woodstock Quarry were not available and had to be replaced from sources further away, added transportation costs for users of the stone would be significant. This would increase the costs for governments to build and maintain infrastructure, which would be passed onto the taxpayers.

The Woodstock Quarry provides additional significant economic benefits to the community in the form of direct employment, indirect employment, property taxes, and aggregate license fees. For more information on the project and what we are doing to minimize any potential impact to our community, please see the Sustainability at Woodstock section of this website.

We invite members of the community to be involved in this process and we would appreciate your comments. The application information will be posted to the Environmental Bill of Rights website for public review. Please contact Luke McLeod, Land Manager at luke.mcleod@lafargeholcim.com or Plant Manager Chad McComb at 519-425-2038 should you have any questions about our Site Plan Amendment application or any other aspects of our operation and the Woodstock Quarry.

At Lafarge Woodstock we do not chemically process our products. To minimize water use we have installed closed circuit water use systems to reuse and recycle the water that we need to operate. We have a monitoring program in place to monitor the groundwater table as the operation proceeds, and report all water use under our permitted sources to the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks. If you have a question about your well and our operation, please contact us. Lafarge will maintain its existing commitment that all residential and agricultural water supplies will be protected. If there are any unforeseen impacts from the quarry operation, water supply will be restored at Lafarge’s expense. If any of the neighbours would like to discuss their well conditions or have concerns, Lafarge would be pleased to review the situation.

The updates proposed in this site plan amendment have been carefully studied in order to understand any potential impacts. Mitigation will ensure impacts to groundwater are minimized. Noise and dust will be mitigated to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements. No additional truck traffic is anticipated and the yearly tonnage limit set by the MNRF will not be changed.

The monitoring data from wells adjacent to both the quarry operations and the cement operations are reviewed in tandem to ensure Lafarge is mitigating any potential impact.

The updated site plan will reflect the same end-use as the current, approved rehabilitation plan. The current rehabilitation plan includes several lake areas that will be suitable for recreational activities as well as a naturalized shoreline that will provide wildlife habitat.

Various agencies will be consulted during this project, including:

• Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry
• Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks
• Upper Thames River Conservation Authority
• Oxford County
• Township of Zorra
• Local neighbours and local elected officials

The Lafarge Woodstock Quarry has been actively participating in educating numerous groups over the years. You are welcome to visit and we offer tours periodically. Please contact our Plant Manager, Chad McComb, at 519-425-2038 to put your name on the list for our next tour.

The Lafarge Woodstock Quarry places much value in being a good neighbour. Lafarge makes a large effort to give back to our local communities on an annual basis. For more information, please contact the Plant Manager, Chad McComb, 519-425-2038.