Fact Files

• New Zealand uses 9-10 tonnes of aggregate every year for each adult and child.
• To build an average house, you need about 250 tonnes of aggregate – for use in concrete, asphalt, mortar and building products.
• To build 1km of a two-lane highway, you need around 14,000 tonnes of construction aggregates (500 truck and trailer loads).
• Quarrying needs to be carried out close to where materials will be used. This keeps transportation costs low and helps to minimise building costs and emissions in local communities.
• The quarry industry is committed to working alongside local communities and follows stringent planning, environmental and operating conditions.
• New Zealand needs to plan ahead and protect our aggregate supplies – so we can provide affordable houses for Kiwis and continue to build and repair our infrastructure.

Aggregates are fundamental to the lives of everyday New Zealanders. Without an on-going supply of aggregates, the production of concrete and the development of buildings, roads and infrastructure would come to a standstill.

New Zealand Petroleum and Minerals (NZPAM) latest statistics, collected from 456 quarries show quarried material production of just over 34 million tonnes reported for the 2020 year. That works out at 6.7t per capita (in red below). When corrected for the response rate (not all quarries report their tonnages), total production is just over 41Mt for the year which equates to 8.1t per capita for every Kiwi (about one truckload each).

The output per quarry was down for 2020. The output per quarry is shown in the following graph.

Looking at quarried material uses, 2020 showed most aggregates continue to be used for roading, followed by building aggregates. Roading was higher than normal and building was lower than normal.

The direct revenue earned from the 34m tonnes of aggregates produced was $611M in 2020. The economic benefit of quarrying (and mining) to our country contributed $2.6 billion to New Zealand’s economy in 2019. 3400 people are directly employed in 966 quarries around NZ (WorkSafe 2021 data).

Per person, New Zealand is one of the highest aggregate consumers in the world. This section shows some international comparisons.

New Zealand – 8.1t/person (2020 corrected), 6.7t (2020 reported), 10t/person – industry estimate
Canada 12t/person (2020)
Australia – 8.0t/per person (2020)
United States – 7.4t/person (2020)
United Kingdom 4.2t/person (2019)
South Africa 2.5t/person (2016)

The following graph shows the tonnes produced per person in Europe for the 2019 year from UEPG member countries.

Quarried products are generally very low value, on average around $17/tonne. Once a load of aggregate is taken more than 30km from a quarry, the consumer is generally paying more in cartage costs than for the actual aggregate. That’s why it’s crucial that aggregates are sourced as close as possible to where they are needed.

Regional production (t/person) is shown around New Zealand in the following image. Note that Waikato and Northland have very high production per capita as about 30% of their production is carted to and used in the Auckland region.

And this graph compares New Zealand’s regional production over the last decade.