Environmentalist group Terraferida is warning of a new "boom" in quarries in Majorca in areas of high natural and landscape value. The group argues that concessions are being requested under an excuse of restoration when they are in fact for continuing exploitation.
The directorate for industrial policy is criticised for its permissive attitude in approving "everything that comes along without applying any environment or landscape rationality criteria".
One of the quarries of most concern is Can Negret in Alaro, which is the focus of a campaign to prevent more work on behalf of the Cemex multinational. Following two years of inactivity, Cemex has a new period of exploitation for 82 years. In the Serra de Bellveure, there are protected areas for birds and geological and special interest, while the limits of the Tramuntana World Heritage Site are close by.
Terraferida also points to the Son Ferragut quarry in Sa Pobla. This has been inactive since 1989 because of the lack of a municipal licence. Cemex wants to restart work with a restoration plan that will allow exploitation over the next eight years. The group maintains that this is part of a Cemex plan for processing aggregates at its plant in Lloseta.
Other sites that Terraferida highlights are Serra de sa Mesquida in Porreres, Can Sentes (Felanitx), Son Tey (Sineu) and Carrossa II in Arta. In the case of the latter, for example, Terraferida claims that there are plans for extracting 155,000 cubic metres per annum for the next thirty years.
The government is being urged to take measures to slow down "exaggerated" urban and tourism growth in Majorca, to prioritise the reuse of already extracted material and preserve rural land.