Castle Rock outcrop to be protected

Dipton's Castle Rock natural limestone outcrop will be officially protected by covenant thanks to the local community, Ravensdown and the Southland District Council. Representatives from the three parties gathered at the site on 21 April 2011 to celebrate the signing of the official covenant declaring Ravensdown's intention to protect and preserve the western face of this important limestone outcrop. The outcrop is part of Ravensdown's Dipton Lime Quarry and Ravensdown has been liaising with the local community regarding the quarry, in conjunction with the Southland District Council, for a number of years.

"The Dipton Quarry has operated continually since the 1930s supplying agricultural lime to Southland and Central Otago. The site employs five people and contributes $1m to the local economy," says Ravensdown CEO Rodney Green. "We take our role in the community very seriously and so have created a quarry management plan that now protects the face. The Dipton Landcare Group lobbied us to not mine the cliffs and we were persuaded to change our view. Locals were worried the landscape feature might be removed or damaged during the ongoing quarrying operation at Dipton Lime and asked Ravensdown if we would agree to fully protect the remaining rock face.

"This move has reduced the life of the quarry however we recognise its importance as part of the local landscape and are pleased to see it stay," he says.

Peter McDonald, of the Dipton Landcare Group, says the group is delighted with the outcome. "The outcrop has been there since day one. It's a local attraction where many people visit and picnic. I wanted to be able to take my grandchildren there and have them see it as it's always been."

Southland District Council has been involved in co-ordinating liaison and survey work associated with the definition of the covenant work.

Southland Mayor Frana Cardno is thrilled at this outcome and praised Ravensdown for listening to the community. "I am delighted this unique area is being preserved as it is an icon of Southland. It's a great example of big business, Council and the community working together for a positive outcome."

Group manager environment and community Bruce Halligan says it is great to see this positive environmental outcome achieved in the protection of the western face of the formation, which is a unique natural feature. Mr Halligan thanked the Community Trust of Southland for providing funding to assist with survey work.

During the official covenant signing ceremony Ravensdown announced that it will be upgrading the site during the next year to include a new lime storage area and new drying and processing plant that would lower the overall processing cost of the site. In addition, the new equipment will provide increased capacity for fertiliser mixes, increase reliability and efficiency and have environmental benefits including less dust as well as being more energy efficient and quieter. Ravensdown and its farmer shareholders see agricultural lime as a key ingredient in efficient long-term sustainable farming systems. The lime from Dipton is used extensively throughout Southland and Central Otago and without its use farm production and economic output would be drastically reduced.