Press Release

THE FUTURE OF PORTLAND STONE IS UNDERGROUND

15 April 2005

The world famous Portland stone, used in the construction of St Paul’s Cathedral and Buckingham Palace, will now be extracted underground. Albion Stone Quarries has been granted planning permission by Dorset County Council to extract the material from Stonehills, leased by The Crown Estate, by means of mining.

The famous Portland stone has been used on some of the world’s most beautiful buildings, and high demand over the centuries has left the Isle of Portland with a legacy of quarrying activity, including geological exposures and fauna and flora worthy of designation as SSSI’s.

Nevertheless, further proposals for surface extraction on an ‘island’ measuring only 7 by 3 km (4.5 by 1.75 miles) would not be acceptable. Recognising this, the idea of extracting the stone by underground techniques was conceived by Ken Bate, the Crown Mineral Agent, and the resultant Bowers Trial Mine was opened by Roger Bright, Chief Executive of The Crown Estate, in October 2002.

The mining of Portland stone in this fashion, as opposed to quarrying, involved a complete redesign of the traditional extraction process. New diamond belted cutting equipment which extracts the stone from its natural bed has been imported from Italy. The introduction of these quarrying changes has been technically challenging and involved a considerable investment.

However, the environmental benefits will be substantial and will result in reduced noise, dust and most importantly the complete elimination of ground and air vibration, which will improve the area for residents and also wildlife.

As part of the arrangement, the Independent and Bowers quarries will, over time, be restored to create areas for nature conservation and a sculpture park.

The regeneration of Independent quarry will be the first time on Portland that a worked-out quarry will be developed specifically for the public good. The quarry will be handed over to local charity Portland Sculpture Trust who plan to introduce art and sculpture into the spaces with the involvement of local school children, create an adventure playground and build an amphitheatre.

Michael Poultney, Managing Director of Albion Stone Quarries, commenting on the planning approval, said, “This is wonderful news for the industry and the environment.

“We have spent years trying to get this planning permission and this was the last piece of the Stonehills jigsaw.”

It was precisely for this type of innovation that Michael Poultney was jointly awarded winner of the 2004 Rural Entrepreneur award. Together with The Crown Estate he has sought and secured planning permission to develop the extraction of the stone by mining with state of the art technology, rather than traditional quarrying.

John Pears, Deputy Crown Mineral Agent, said, “The Crown Estate has been keen to support Albion Stone Quarries as a tenant in moving towards extraction using less intrusive techniques and the gradual transition to underground mining of the valuable reserve.”

At the Bowers Trial Mine a room-and-pillar system of extraction is being developed, underneath the land, disturbing very little of the surface. A bed of commercially suitable stone, averaging six metres in thickness, is being extracted with diamond-wire saws and 'jet-belt' stone-cutters. Blasting is now a thing of the past.