Mines & mining heritage · Scottish Highlands
Lochaline Mine
Lochaline Mine — sand mine in Scotland.
Wikimedia Commons licence
Plan your visit
- Typical visit
- 1 h–2 h
About
Lochaline Mine is a mine in the United Kingdom. Wikidata describes it as: "sand mine in Scotland". Coordinates: 56.5410°, -5.7740°.
Photo gallery
From the Wikipedia article
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 100,000 tonnes (110,000 tons) to 140,000 tonnes (150,000 tons) per year.
Excerpt from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0. See the source article linked in Sources below.
Background
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. The mine is located near to the village of Lochaline on the Morvern peninsula, some 40 mi south-west of Fort William. The site was found to have a seam of white cretaceous sandstone some 18 ft thick extending north-westwards from Lochaline. 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 150 m thick) above the sand deposits, it is worked as a…
Sourced from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Coordinates
- 56.5410, -5.7740
- District
- Highland
- Postcode
- PA80 5LQ
- Parliamentary constituency
- Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber
Sources
- wikidata: Q123125611 (CC0)
- wikipedia: Lochaline Mine (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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Frequently asked questions
- Where is Lochaline Mine?
- Lochaline Mine is in the Scottish Highlands, United Kingdom (postcode PA80 5LQ).
- Who owns Lochaline Mine?
- Lochaline Mine is owned by | official website =.
- How do I get to Lochaline Mine?
- Drivers can navigate to postcode PA80 5LQ. It sits within the Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber parliamentary constituency.