Your Questions Answered

Amrize Canada is Canada’s largest provider of diversified construction materials. We have more than 6,000 employees and 250 sites across Canada, including 9 employees at our Amrize Wellington site. Amrize is committed to providing solutions using sustainable manufacturing practices and improving the environment in and around its operations. The company has a sixty-year history in Canada and works continually to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, restore wetlands for native plants and animals, and identify materials that can be recycled for use in other capacities.  The cities and towns where Canadians live, work and raise their families along with the community’s infrastructure benefit from the solutions provided by Amrize. Our product offerings consist of various types of aggregates, ready mix concrete, and cement.

The Wellington site is located at 7051 Wellington Road 124 on the south side of Highway 124, in the Townships of Guelph-Eramosa and Puslinch, west of the City of Guelph.

The Amrize Wellington site has been in operation for nearly 50 years. The site has periodically operated as a sand and gravel quarry, and also hosts a Ready Mix Concrete plant operated by Amrize as well as an Asphalt plant operated by another company under a lease. In order to meet Ontario’s infrastructure demands, the Wellington site is being readied to recommence aggregate production under its existing Aggregate Resources Act (ARA) license. Before recommencing operations, the site requires an amendment to the existing Permit to Take Water, and Industrial Sewage Works Approval.  These amendments are needed because as quarries are constructed they become an excavation into which precipitation and groundwater accumulate, requiring it to be pumped out.  The water is collected in a series of ponds and the quantity and quality of water must be monitored and discharged in accordance with the Ministry of Environment Conservation and Parks (MECP) requirements.

Yes. The Wellington site has a license under the Aggregate Resources Act (ARA; Ontario 1990 License #5514) to extract sand/gravel and bedrock. This includes extraction below the water table. For this application, the extraction of bedrock will be limited to a depth of 285 m above sea level which is determined to be above the aquitard named the Vinemount Member of the Eramosa Formation. The bedrock for extraction is below the water table and as such the operations will require quarry dewatering.

The Wellington site is currently permitted to pump water from the Speed River, a Source Pond and a Holding Pond for operational purposes (manufacturing and aggregate washing) under an existing permit to take water (PTTW Number 2718-7S3RM7) and Environmental Compliance Approval (Certificate of Approval Number 0290-6PHGPS).

The Amrize Wellington project is not new. The site has been in operation since the 1970s. With the exhaustion of other local quarry resources, the Amrize Wellington site is being readied to re-commence aggregate production.  In order to re-commence operations, amendments to the existing Permit to Take Water, and Industrial Sewage Works approval are required.

Water takings in Ontario are governed by the Ontario Water Resources Act.  Anyone taking more than a total of 50,000 liters of water in a day, with some exceptions, is required to obtain a permit from a Director appointed by the Minister of the Environment Conservation and Parks (MECP). It is important to note that while the permit is classified as a permit to take water, the word “take” can be misleading in this situation.  For the Wellington site operations, much of the water use may be better described as water handling..  As quarries are constructed, they become an open excavation into which precipitation can accumulate andgroundwater seepage, through the quarry walls, can flow.  Over time, the excavation would fill with water, and so it is necessary to pump the water out during quarry operations. After the proposed water handling begins, a small percentage of water will be used on site while the majority will be pumped into a nearby wetland and the Speed River.

Amrize has retained Golder Associates to complete a detailed review of surrounding private wells. Here, most wells have between 8.3 to 49.3 meters of available groundwater. Interference with private wells in the area is expected to be minimal and that wells will continue to have sufficient capacity with the development of the quarry.

This application is currently posted on the Environmental Registry of Ontario and the comment period is open. You can submit comments directly on this site by accessing the following link: https://ero.ontario.ca/notice/019-0240.