It's the multimillion-dollar Hunter industry that is literally underpinning the state's record infrastructure and construction boom.
But while the region's quarries struggle to keep up with the demand, concerns about the industry's environmental, health and social impacts are growing as loud as the rumble of trucks that travel along the roads of Port Stephens and Mid Coast Council areas.
"The expansion of Sydney's housing and construction market seems more important to politicians than anything else, but it is coming at the expense of rural and regional communities who are losing their environment," Port Stephens EcoNetwork spokeswoman Margarete Ritchie said.
Six quarries currently operate in an area bounded by Seaham, Martins Creek and Karuah with a cumulative output of about 3.5 million tonnes per annum.
Affected communities cite the dangers of more trucks on rural roads, nose bleeds from dust, threats to the water quality of Port Stephens and the loss of native koala habitat.
And there are more to come - community groups estimate, based on existing expansion plans, there could be 3500 trucks a day rumbling to and from Hunter quarries in the next five years
"We are talking about thousands of trucks a day going through Heatherbrae and Raymond Terrace," Ms Ritchie said.
"The pollution from the diesel (trucks) is just as bad as the dust pollution from the quarries. It's not just one issue, it is the cumulative impact of all these issues."
In recent years Hanson's application to expand its Brandy Hill quarry met with sustained community opposition, which attracted support from celebrities including Olivia Newton-John and Jimmy Barnes.
Federal Environment Minister Susan Ley, who gave the final approval in late 2020, claimed significant modifications had been made to protect the area's koala habitat, but opponents dubbed the outcome a victory for "rocks over koalas".
Ironstone Developments Pty Ltd, which wants to extract 500,000 tonnes of rock per annum from a proposed new quarry near Limeburners Creek, is facing similar community opposition.
Prominent Hunter businessman Hilton Grugeon began operating Hunter Quarries at Karuah in the mid-1990s.
The operation has between 30 to 40 full-time employees and about 60 contractors.
Mr Grugeon said he supported tough regulation.
"The approval processes and requirements are not what they were 50 or even 20 years ago. They are incredibly prescriptive. But we wholly support it because the issues are real and they need to be well managed otherwise everyone loses," he said.
While he supported rigorous approval processes, Mr Grugeon argued quarries were an essential part of a healthy economy.
"In an ideal world you would pull it (rock) out of the ground far away from where anyone was living and put it on rail. But the cost of all that gets passed down the line."
Tea Gardens resident and former Mid Coast Councillor Len Roberts has called for a consolidation of the region's quarries.
"We have to have (the quarried product) but there has to be a better plan for coordination," he said.
"People have a right to do their business but there has to be a way of minimising the overall impact. Tea Gardens quarry is not being used to its full capacity and neither is Karuah at this stage."
Port Stephens MP Kate Washington said quarries would continue to be an important part of the region's economy.
"But each proposal must be judged on its merits, taking into account the increasing need to preserve native habitat whilst also protecting the health and wellbeing of residents," she said.
"The cumulative impacts of habitat destruction in Port Stephens can't be ignored. Not only does our native wildlife deserve to be protected, but our local economy is dependent on maintaining our environmental credentials.
"We're seeing more trucks, larger trucks, and heavier trucks on our local roads, and very little being done to mitigate those risks," she said.
"If the government has learnt anything from COVID it should be that a healthy community and a healthy environment is needed for a healthy economy. Our community deserves a comprehensive planning strategy which considers all these factors, rather than the ad-hoc approach which fails to protect local residents and allows the destruction of valuable native habitat."
