An aggregates firm has invested £3.5 million in new state-of-the-art machinery which says will boost efficiency and help it achieve its environmental goals.
Longcliffe Quarries has completed the installation of the new washing plant at its Brassington Moor quarry.
According to the firm, it will enable the transformation of material with a higher clay content, at a rate of 220 tonnes per hour, into valuable single-sized aggregates and sand grades.
This will allow Longcliffe to recover key products from material that traditionally had to be discarded, maximising the company’s available reserves, and saving 12% of the quarry's load and haul fuel usage.
For almost a century, Longcliffe’s Derbyshire quarries have been supplying high purity calcium carbonates.
The firm produces more than 100 products for a large range of products, from animal feeds and pet foods to glass and plasterboard.
Cure activators produced at Longcliffe even found their way into the docking seals on the International Space Station.
According to Longcliffe’s managing director, Viv Russell, the new equipment at Brassington Moor will help the firm towards its objective of reaching zero-carbon quarrying operations by 2027.
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He said: "This new development strengthens Longcliffe’s position as a champion of sustainability in the quarrying sector.
“Since 2014/15, onsite energy intensity has fallen by nearly 20%, and with the addition of two wind turbines, Brassington Moor quarry’s net emissions have fallen by almost 70%.
“Extensive tree planting and investment in natural capital– notably in the creation of three nature reserves – complement these carbon reductions, ensuring that Longcliffe remains a leading example of good practice in the industry and continues to be one of the leading employers in the Derbyshire Dales."
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Sarah Dines, MP for Derbyshire Dales, presided over the official opening of the plant.
She said: “I was so delighted to have my first ribbon cutting as MP at Longcliffe Quarries.
“I am so proud to have such a critical industry so vital to national infrastructure in my constituency and was pleased to be able to open their new plant alongside their hard working team who made it all happen.”