McCallum Brothers is an Auckland

Auckland

The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...

, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

-based sand

Sand

Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.The composition of sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources and conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal...

 and construction aggregate

Construction Aggregate

Construction aggregate, or simply "aggregate", is a broad category of coarse particulate material used in construction, including sand, gravel, crushed stone, slag, recycled concrete and geosynthetic aggregates. Aggregates are the most mined material in the world...

 supplier. Its main products are sand and jasper

Jasper

Jasper, a form of chalcedony, is an opaque, impure variety of silica, usually red, yellow, brown or green in color; and rarely blue. This mineral breaks with a smooth surface, and is used for ornamentation or as a gemstone. It can be highly polished and is used for vases, seals, and at one time for...

 (of which it quarries up to 30,000 tonnes per year). The company mainly supplies building and roading companies in the North Island

North Island

The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the much less populous South Island by Cook Strait. The island is in area, making it the world's 14th-largest island...

 of New Zealand, and it also provides sand for beach replenishment. It was founded in 1904, and is still in family ownership to this day.

The company has recently (2007) won a case in the Environment Court which will allow it to continue extracting sand from the Mangawhai

Mangawhai

Mangawhai is a locality in Northland, New Zealand around the Mangawhai Harbour. The township of Mangawhai is at the south west extent of the harbour, and the township of Mangawhai Heads is 5 km north east...

-Pakiri

Pakiri

Pakiri is a locality in Auckland, in the former Rodney District of New Zealand. Leigh is about nine km to the south-east. The Pakiri River flows through the area and into the Hauraki Gulf to the north-east.The area is named for the Ngāti Wai chief, Te Kiri....

 embayment, with the court agreeing that the removal was environmentally sustainable, mainly due to the argument that the removal would not exceed the natural buildup of new sand, a point that had been contested by various local opponents and the ARC

Auckland Regional Council

The Auckland Regional Council was the regional council of the Auckland Region. Its predecessor the Auckland Regional Authority was formed in 1963 and became the ARC in 1989...

. McCallum Brothers itself also notes that the use of its own fleet of ships to deliver their product to the mostly coastal-area delivery locations around the Auckland area helps reduce traffic issues and improve sustainability.

To reduce dependence on the Pakiri area, the company is currently intending to gain permission to remove sand from the Kaipara Harbour

Kaipara Harbour

Kaipara Harbour is a large enclosed harbour estuary complex on the north western side of the North Island of New Zealand. The northern part of the harbour is administered by the Kaipara District and the southern part is administered by the Rodney District...

, from where the sand would be transported to the Port of Onehunga. The extraction area is however historically considered dangerous for ships due to the local weather and sea conditions, which have wrecked or grounded many ships over the years.