Speaker David Scott - Glensanda Quarry
Tue, Jun 6th 2017 at 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
David Scott gave a fascinating talk on the Glensanda granite quarry beside Loch Linnhe to Kilrymont St Andrews Rotarians.
David, a retired mechanical engineer with Aggregate Industries, was managing director from 2006 until 2009 at Glensanda, the largest granite quarry in Europe.
He gave an account of the history of Glensanda which was a former shooting estate.
John Yeoman, a quarry owner from Somerset, was a keen sailor and with his wife Angela sailed on the west coast of Scotland. He was also a visionary and saw the potential of the granite mountain beside the loch but was also aware of the environmental considerations in an area of outstanding natural beauty.
In 1982 he purchased the Glensanda estate and four years later the first quarried granite was exported to Houston, Texas.
Other aggregate markets opened up in London and Europe and Glensanda has provided crushed granite to projects including the Channel Tunnel, the Elbe road tunnel in Hamburg and Nord Stream gas pipeline.
John Yeoman died in 1987 but his wife successfully ran the company until 2006 when it was acquired by Aggregate Industries, a subsidiary of Swiss company Holcim.
David headed a team of seven who changed the way the super quarry operated.
David outlined the blasting operations of Glensanda explaining how the material was then crushed and transported on conveyor belts in tunnels up to 1.8km long.
Further crushing, washing and sorting took place ready for the material to be loaded on to massive ships for transport to sites, mainly across Europe.
The company owns three of its own bulk carrying 100,000 tonne vessels.
The quarry employs over 200 people and has hotel-style accommodation on site for many of the workers. Others have a daily commute on boats to the quarry.
The granite mountain is 1800 feet high and is quarried from within leaving a massive crater 1.5 miles wide but virtually unseen from the surrounding scenic area meaning the whole operation being in harmony with the environment.
Looking to the future, David said the quarry has about 75-100 years of reserves.
The company is now part of the LafargeHolcim group following a £60bn mega merger and it exports to over 90 countries. He points out that large multinationals do not operate sites for sentimental reasons and he has concerns about viability if there are tariffs post-Brexit.
Iain Mackinnon introduced David and John Spittal proposed thanks.
Malcolm Horner, assistant district governor, presented Isobel Clifford with a medallion of office to mark her becoming an assistant district governor in July.
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