Cementa applies for 30-year limestone quarry extension

HeidelbergCement-owned Cementa has submitted an application to continue its limestone extraction operations at Degerhamn.

The application covers 15Mt of limestone in the next 30 years and Cementa has conducted extensive investigations into the potential impact of the operations on the area’s water supply and surrounding natural resources.

"It only turns out to be a marginal impact on the groundwater around the tents and hence no lowering of water levels in any individual wells," said Staffan Johnson, environmental manager at Cementa Degerhamn. "The surrounding nature is grazing, and it does not depend on groundwater in the soil but can handle rainwater. Therefore, in principle, there will be no impact on the surrounding nature, although we will continue pumping some water from the quarry.”

The company’s current permit expires on 1 July 2022.