Colour photograph, 2007
Survey by RCAHMS
Sitting by the banks of Loch Aline, the silica mine is naturally camouflaged by forest and cliffs and sits directly below the village of Lochaline.
Lochaline supplies sand for high quality optical glass, abrasives and the building trade. The extraction of silica sand is almost exclusively achieved by surface quarrying but at Lochaline it is mined. It was to record this unique approach that RCAHMS undertook a photographic survey.
The method of mining is by room and stoop working where there are a series of galleries supported by pillars of silica sand material. The sand working face is drilled, explosives inserted, the sand blasted and processed on site. The roof and floor of the galleries are of a harder substance and so working the seam of silica is safe from roof collapse. The processing takes place above ground and includes crushing the compacted sand into smaller pieces, screening (to sort by grain size) and washing to remove non-silica material and to further refine the grain size. The sand is then weighed and loaded onto ships and sent to England where it is dispatched to customers.