7mm maximum movement in Albion Stone’s mine
Here at Albion Stone our mines are managed by a professionally qualified engineering geologist who is backed up by a team of experienced mine supervisors and staff.
We undertake weekly roof convergence monitoring and have over 130 survey stations in Jordans Mine and currently around 30 in Bowers Mine. We use specialist equipment to detect the smallest of movements (down to 100th of a millimeter) of the mine’s roof beam and pillars. We have unbroken records detailing the results of this monitoring dating back to 2008 when mining at Jordans began. Detecting deflection of the roof beam to such a high resolution would give us time to react to and correct any issues before long before such movement became a cause for concern.
The maximum movement ever recorded anywhere in either mine is less than 7.5mm and in most cases roof-beam deflection is very much less than this. Wardell Armstrong, a world class mining consultancy, has been continuously engaged by Albion Stone for the last 15 years to undertake independent geotechnical audits of our mines and to assist with any mining related issues as necessary.
The lateral extent of the mine is determined by weekly in-house surveys which results in an updated CAD plan that is issued to the mining team to ensure that we never stray beyond our planning boundaries. The weekly in-house surveys are supplemented by annual surveys undertaken by an independent, professionally qualified mine surveyor.
Albion Stone is inspected and accredited by the BSI (9001, 14001, 6001 & 18001) which clearly demonstrates our commitment to excellence. We are also regularly inspected by both the HSE and also by specialist officers from Dorset’s Mineral Planning Authority. Such external oversight helps to ensure that our operational standards remain as high as possible at all times.
We will be hosting an open day at Jordans Mine on Saturday 2 June. Local residents are invited to make an appointment via our office (telephone 01305 860369) when they will have the opportunity see Albion Stone’s mining operations with the mine manager and members of his team.
Albion Stone, a fourth generation family business pride ourselves on having a helpful and skilled workforce as well as modern and traditional manufacturing process to enable us to produce the highest quality Portland Stone with minimal environmental impact.
