Lochaline Mine Explained

Lochaline Mine
Pushpin Map:Scotland Lochaber
Pushpin Map Alt:Relief map of the Lochaber area
Place:Lochaline, Morvern
Subdivision Type:Council area
State/Province:Highland
Country:Scotland
Products:Silica sand
Financial Year:2021
Opening Year:1940
Active Years:1940–2008
2012–present
Acquisition Year:2012

Lochaline Mine is a mine on the Morvern peninsula of the Highland area of Scotland. The mine works a white cretaceous sandstone to produce high grade silica sand (the purest grade in the United Kingdom) for glass and industrial use. It is one of only two underground mines in Scotland, and is the only underground sand mine in Europe. The mine was founded in 1940 due to a limited supply of high grade silica during the Second World War, and was briefly closed for four years between 2008 and 2012. Production ranges from to per year.

History

Lochaline was first recognised as a potential sand resource in 1895, but at that time, cheap imports of glass sand were delivered to the United Kingdom from Europe, so the site was deemed not economically viable.[1] The mine is located near to the village of Lochaline on the Morvern peninsula, some south-west of Fort William. The site was found to have a seam of white cretaceous sandstone some thick extending north-westwards from Lochaline.[2] The sand was deposited 135 million years ago and was saved from erosion by eruptions from the nearby Mull Volcano, which covered the sand in basalt. Due to the presence of the basalt (about 150m (490feet) thick) above the sand deposits, it is worked as a mine rather than the normal method of quarrying.[3] [4] The method of working the deposit is to mine underneath the hard rock leaving a maximum of 2m (07feet) sand as a room and pillar method to support the workings.[5] The upper 2m (07feet) has a greater rate of impurity and the middle section, extending from NaNm (-2,147,483,648feet), is what is mined extensively as this has virtually no impurities.

The mine was started in 1940 due to the scarcity of silica sand supply caused by the outbreak of the Second World War. Previously high quality silica was sourced from a site at Fontainebleau outside Paris, but the occupation of France ceased this supply.[6] During the war, the sand was needed for the glass contained within bomb aiming sights and submarine periscopes.[4] Originally horses were used to transport the sand from the mine to the surface works and pier into the adjacent sea loch (Loch Aline). The horses were replaced quite soon afterwards by a railway (with rails from a captured German cargo ship) which operated between 1943 and 1963, when diesel lorries took over the operation.[7] The mine has a dedicated pier and ship operation in the loch and exports its sand to ports in England (to destinations in Runcorn and Scunthorpe) and also to Europe. At Runcorn, the sand is used to make solar panels.[2]

It was closed by Tarmac in 2008, but revived in 2012 in a joint enterprise between Pilkington's and Gruppo Minerali Maffei, an Italian mining company, as Lochaline Quartz Sand.[8] At its re-opening, the mine covered accessed by 48km (30miles) of tunnels, and was estimated to have a working life of a decade and produce an average of of sand per year.[4] By 2021, it was producing of sand per year and was expected to remain open for decades. The tunnels had expanded to a length of over and the main working face was below the surface.[9] The site is the only underground sand mine in Europe.[10]

The mine produces a very high grade of silica with very low iron impurity; it was rated as being 0.0085 % ferric oxide (Fe2O3). In June 2022, it was announced that a new trail for public information would be opened, including the history of the narrow-gauge railway that served the mine.[11]

Owners

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Notes and References

  1. News: Goddard . Nic . Lochaline sand mine gives up its secrets to visitors . 7 October 2023 . The Oban Times . 26 July 2019.
  2. News: Thornber . Ian . Lochaline's famous silica sand mine . The Oban Times . 8376 . 12 October 2017 . 7. 2517-6005.
  3. Book: Directory of Mines and Quarries . 2020 . British Geological Survey . Keyworth . 978-0-85272-789-8 . 1-123, 3-32 . 11.
  4. Catford. Nick. Lochaline Silica Sand Mine in Argyll to reopen. December 2014. Subterranea. 37. Subterranea Britannica. Berkshire, UK. 1741-8917.
  5. Hide . Liz . Where have all the fossils gone . The Edinburgh Geologist . Autumn 1999 . 33 . 22 . Edinburgh Geological Society . Ratho . 0265-7244.
  6. News: Ross . David . Mine's closure leaves village fighting for life . The Herald . 20 December 2008 . 10. 0965-9439.
  7. Web site: Lochaline, Silica Sand Mine Canmore . canmore.org.uk . 14 October 2023 . en.
  8. News: Cameron . Greig . Lochaline sand mine reopens for business . 7 October 2023 . The Herald . 14 September 2012 . en.
  9. News: Arnaud . Stan . Space a new frontier as revival of remote Highland mine continues . 7 October 2023 . Press and Journal . 11 September 2021.
  10. Web site: Schwartz . Michael . Beyond Glass: Silica sand applications . iom3.org . 14 October 2023 . 3 March 2020.
  11. News: HES awards £140,000 to community heritage projects HES . 7 October 2023 . www.historicenvironment.scot . 2 June 2022 . en.
  12. Greene . Margaret . Visit to the Lochaline Silica Mine . Proceedings of the Geological Society of Glasgow . 2016–2017 . 159 . 23 . Geological Society of Glasgow . Glasgow . 0141-1837.