Management of clay shale resources in the Sydney region

Abstract

fective management of clay/shale resources in the Sydney region is needed to ensure that adequate supplies of raw materials will be available to industry, and hence to the I community at a reasonable price, and that deposits are selected and worked responsibly to minimize environmental impact. Clay/shale is currently extracted from the Ashfield I Shale and Bringelly Shale of the Wianamatta Group (80 per cent), from shale lenses in the Hawkesbury Sandstone (10 per cent), and from Tertiary clays (10 per cent). Other potential sources are I Pleistocene clay, coal washery discard, and sand washing tailings. In 1977/78 more than 2 million tonnes of clay/shale were extracted from 44 pits in the Sydney region.