Lochaline Mine
Highland, United Kingdom
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.
Mine data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).