The Opening of Bowers Mine

07/08/2015 • News

Due to the success of Albion Stone’s current working mines the company are in the midst of making their strategy of 100% mining a reality. The term ‘Keyhole surgery’ can be likened to our mining operation on the Isle of Portland as it is a passive way of extracting stone with limited disturbance. This seamless operation has little to no impact on the surface area; whilst Albion Stone safely extract the historical and valuable Portland Stone from 13 metres under foot, the local Red Triangle Cricket Club can continue playing their matches on the same cricket green they have been playing on for well over 93 years.

As part of the transfer to underground mining we are returning to our original Bowers Mine which was started in 2002. We will be extracting the final section of reserves that previously benefited from Quarrying Planning Permission.. Along with the help from our new staff, the surveys indicate that using our fleet of five Fantini machines we should be able to extract approximately 40 years’ worth of Bowers Basebed Portland Stone. The expansion of this high quality yet most sustainable extraction process has been implemented to allow work on both Albion Stone mines, Bowers and Jordans to coincide. This new addition will give the company large reserves of the highest quality Bowers Basebed stone which is redolent with history, has been praised by prestigious architects and features on countless award winning buildings.

Inherently, Albion Stone focus closely on the environment and ensure that we maintain the greenest operation possible. Alongside, installing solar panels on our factory roof and working closely with Dorset Wildlife trust Albion will start to prepare for the opening of our third mine, Stonehills towards the end of next year. 

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.