Berrima cement works

The Boral Cement Berrima operation that is located in the New South Wales Southern Highlands Region adjacent to the town of New Berrima is a major supplier of cement to the New South Wales construction and building industry.

Up until October 2013 the Berrima cement works was complimented with its own Colliery, the Medway coal mine, that supplied coal to the works for use in the manufacturing of Boral cement. The coal mine has now been placed on care and maintenance. The Berrima cement works supplies around 60 percent of New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory's total cement needs. The Berrima works are able to meet this demand through the following activities:

- Its limestone needs are imported to the cement works by rail
- All its material requirements are stockpiled
- Clinker is produced in kiln 6
- Clinker is ground in mill 7
- The end product is transported from the works by rail and road
- All plant and equipment maintenance is carried out on-site

The construction of the Berrima cement works got underway in the latter half of 1927 with cement production commencing in May 1929. The town of New Berrima was established in 1928 to house the cement works and mine employees and their families. The Berrima cement work operates today with the one kiln, No 6, with the limestone transported from Marulan South by rail. The limestone is burnt to a high temperature after it is blended with other material to produce a product known as clinker. The clinker pellets are ground to produce a cement powder such as that which most people are familiar with.

There are around 130 people employed at the Berrima cement works that Boral acquired in 1987 from Blue Circle Southern Cement. This is the reason many people to this day still refer to the cement works as the 'Blue Circle.'

Cement produced at the Boral Berrima cement works has been used in the following projects:

- Sections of the Federal, Pacific and Hume Highways
- The Sydney Harbour Tunnel
- Anzac Bridge Sydney
- The Canberra National Art Gallery
- The High Court of Australia
- Parliament House Canberra
- The Sydney Opera House
- The Snowy Mountains Hydro Electric Scheme

A major change of direction occurred at the Boral cement works at Berrima when the company took the decision to close down the accompanying coal mine, the Medway Colliery. The Medway coal mine is a small scale colliery that has been managed for Boral by Delta Mining. It had been in operation for over 90 years and providing around 220,000 tonnes of coal a year to satisfy the needs of the Berrima cement works. The closure of the mine has resulted in the loss of 30 jobs. At this stage the Medway Colliery has only been placed on care and maintenance with the company stating the reason for doing so on the falling coal price and a poor outlook for the cement industry. It also claimed the Medway mine was an inefficient operation. Boral have decided it will be better served by purchasing their coal needs from third parties rather that keep the Medway Colliery open.
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