tarboat's photos with the keyword: whitwell

The high purity dolomitic limestone extracted at the Tarmac operated Whitwell quarry is burned in the rotary kilns of the adjoining lime processing plant (operated by Lhoist) for use in refractory products and steel manufacture. There are only two quarries in the UK that produce limestone which is suitable for these specialist uses and both quarries are recognised sources of national importance of this mineral. Other grades of limestone present at the quarry that is not suitable for use in the kilns is used principally to produce agricultural lime and aggregates.

When I first saw this quarry and plant I thought it was a cement works. However, it appears that the rotary kiln is for limeburning and that the output of the quarry is partly limestone aggregates for Lafarge and partly specialist dolomite products for Steetley Dolomite which was formed through a management buyout of the Lafarge lime business. They supply dolomitic products for the steel industry including lime flux and refractory components. View large.