New areas of Barrow mine to be opened up in £6.5m scheme
BRITISH Gypsum’s Barrow-Upon-Soar gypsum mine has announced the completion of a £6.5m investment programme to secure supplies of British plaster products for up to 20 years.
The company say that the investment means new areas of the mine can be opened up and fitted out with conveyors, fans and mining equipment, allowing the site to continue supplying sufficient gypsum to plaster the equivalent of around one million homes each year.
The firm says that the move has also secured the 46 jobs at the mine, resulting in a total of 141 jobs at the manufacturing plant based on the same site at Barrow-upon-Soar.
A spokesperson added that as well as this the move indirectly supports hundreds of jobs at other British Gypsum sites across the Midlands including East Leake in Nottinghamshire and Fauld in Staffordshire, and at British Gyspum’s sister business Saint-Gobain Formula based at Newark.
Barrow’s mine manager David North explains that as well as ensuring new parts of the mine could be opened up to maintain supply of gypsum, sustainability was an important consideration for the investment.
He said: “Opening a different area of the mine means nine kilometres of extra conveyor belt is needed for what will be 500 kilometres of new tunnels.
“More fans are also needed to force air through the additional areas of the mine, and mining and loaders that are mostly electric rather than diesel are being installed, to be quieter, environmentally sustainable and to create a better working environment for the workforce.
“The big investment items include a new ‘ miner’ machine imported from the USA. This machine weighs 154 tonnes and uses 98 picks on a rotating drum to slice through the gypsum rock, which the new electric ‘shuttle-cars’ then load up at a rate of up to 38 tonnes of rock per minute and deposit on to the conveyors.”
Mr North added work started creating the Barrow-upon-Soar mine 30 years ago, so the site has more than a third of its life left.
He said:“The area has very good natural reserves of gypsum rock which lie around 100 metres underground.”
“Not only is the gypsum seam rich but it contains mudstone, which gives plaster the characteristic pink colour demanded by plasterers, as well as unique polishing properties.”