Construction Aggregates Resource and Stakeholder Summary

The Resource

Construction aggregate is the term used to describe sand, gravel and rock used for construction purposes. It is the principal component of concrete and asphalt and is used in its natural state as foundation materials for roads and buildings. British Columbia consumption amounts to over 50 million tonnes per year, most of which is used to maintain existing infrastructure in the form of roads, sewers, homes, schools and hospitals.

Good quality aggregate suitable for construction purposes is not evenly distributed across the province and is rare in some areas such as Prince Rupert and the Northeast. In other areas it is more common, but may be located under parks, homes, farms or businesses where extraction is not viable. Experts in both the private sector and government forecast significant shortages of conventional aggregate materials in several areas of the province within the next 10 years.

Annual aggregate consumption is in the range of 13 to 16 tonnes per capita, representing a substantial requirement in high population areas such as the Lower Mainland, Southern Vancouver Island and the Okanagan Valley. In each of these areas known aggregate supplies are being rapidly depleted or are being made unavailable due to land use conflicts. It is important that remaining aggregate resources in these areas be managed effectively in order to maintain affordable pricing and to reduce the need for extensive long haul trucking of aggregates.

Stakeholder Interests in the Construction Aggregate Industry

The interests of the stakeholders with regard to the construction aggregates sector can be summarized as follows:

Common Interests

Clarity of jurisdictional roles and responsibilities

Efficiency of the administrative and regulatory regime

Industry

Reasonable access to a resource of appropriate quality

Reasonable extraction costs

Certainty of taxes, charges and the regulatory regime

Consistency across jurisdictions

Local Governments

Maintain land use planning prerogatives to develop and maintain high quality communities consistent with local needs and objectives and in particular the right to determine whether and where aggregate will be extracted and processed

Manage neighbourhood impacts including safety, noise, dust, traffic and visual aesthetics

Recover costs of mitigating negative impacts on the community

Access to aggregate for community purposes

Province

Adequate supply in support of economic development (Ministry of Employment and Investment)

Maintain and develop transportation and other infrastructure (Ministry of Transportation and Highways)

Assure worker and public safety on and immediately adjacent to operations

Affordable housing and infrastructure (Ministry of Municipal Affairs)

Environmental protection and reclamation (Ministry of Energy and Mines and Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks)

Fair return on the resource (Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks)

Effective local government system (Ministry of Municipal Affairs)

Last updated May 09, 2007