Overview

Three Kings is Auckland City's largest scoria quarry and has been operated by Winstone Aggregates for over 80 years. The quarry produces scoria which mostly supplies central Auckland's needs for drainage material.

Prior to the 1960s, quarrying occurred above the level of surrounding land and there were three other quarries in the vicinity of the 15 hectare Winstone property. Today, none of the original topography remains and the entire site has been lowered to road level and in parts considerably lower.

Scoria is extracted and processed on site into a range of aggregate products. Extraction comprises machine excavation from a face or the floor of the quarry and excavated material is taken to a portable processing plant also located on the quarry floor. The raw product is then processed in to various grades of useful material by several stages of crushing and screening.

The finished products are loaded and transported to stockpiles on site, awaiting sale and transport off site.

Output from the quarry varies according to demand, which more or less follows the cyclic nature of the construction industry and the scale of projects at any time. Scoria's varied and relatively unique properties (weight to strength, surface area and porous - vesicular structure, and colour) sees it used in works ranging in scale from domestic drainage and landscaping jobs, to large scale airport, harbour, roading and drainage infrastructure projects.

The quarry output grew steadily with the development of the surrounding community and reached it's present capacity in the 1950s. Mines returns and company records show that annual production has exceeded 200,000 tonnes, but that demand averages 160,000 to 180,000 tonnes per year.

The Three Kings Quarry operates in accordance with the Resource Management Act 1991 and a company environmental policy.

The effectiveness of this framework has been confirmed by the quarry's achievement of Highly Commended recognition in the Sustainable Business category of Auckland Regional Council's 2007 Sustainable Environment Awards.

For more information about the operation and management of Three Kings Quarry, click here.

History

According to Professor Searle in his 1964 book "City of Volcanoes. A Geology of Auckland" the volcanic cone complex at Three Kings (which encompasses Winstone Aggregates land and adjoining properties) has been subjected to quarrying from about the time the Winstone brothers started horse and cart deliveries of coal from the Queen Street wharf, in the mid 1800's.

Historical records show that Governor Fitzroy granted the land to Messrs Hallimore and Polack in 1845. Winstone Ltd purchased the site in 1922 from a William Connelly who had acquired the fee simple in May 1884.

In the north-eastern corner of the 15 hectare site are buildings and industrial yards originally established in the 1950s when Winstone's developed New Zealand's first concrete masonry ('Vibrapac') manufacturing plant. Its products were made largely from the scoria available on the site taking advantage of the scoria's relatively light weight. A builders' supply yard then operated from these premises until 1997 but today these buildings are used either by the quarry or are tenanted by various lessees.

Quarry activity to the north of the Winstone Aggregates site ceased about 25 years ago, and has subsequently been filled and rehabilitated. A mix of light industrial and residential activities now exists.

To the south and southwest there is previously quarried reserve land. Last quarried under the direction of the Mt Roskill Borough Council, it ceased in the mid 1970s and in the amalgamation of local bodies in the late 1980s came under the jurisdiction of Auckland City Council.

Geological Outline