Background
SMA Mineral AB extracts lime products that are used, among other things, for the Swedish base industry. In order to secure access to raw material limestone, the company wishes to increase mining at existing limestone quarries outside Klintehamn on Gotland. Mining limestone means that a number of noisy operations such as drilling, crushing, the breaking down of oversized boulders and transport need to take place. To take down new parts of the rock, explosive charges are used, causing vibrations in the surroundings and air shock waves.
Assignment
Efterklang has investigated how the increased excavation of limestone in the area affects its surroundings in terms of noise and vibrations. The undertaking has included control measurements in houses and on noisy machines, calculations of the spread in the environment in different future scenarios and advice on noise-reducing measures in order to meet current guideline values. An important part of the undertaking has also been to study how the activity’s limestone transports affect the residents along the road out to Klintehamn harbor, and how the disruption from transports can be limited.
Result
Efterklang has participated with experts in a hearing in the Land and Environment Court to review the permit.
