Lafarge Cement is hoping its restoration of a former fluorspar quarry in Derbyshire, UK will help the company win a national award. The company, in partnership with the land owner, has entered the project to restore Dirtlow Rake Quarry in the Mineral Products Association’s National Restoration Awards. Work at Dirtlow has been carried out in conjunction with local farmers and the Peak District National Park Authority. This work has taken away the negative visual impact of the former mineral workings and spo
Lafarge Cement is hoping its restoration of a former fluorspar quarry in Derbyshire, UK will help the company win a national award. The company, in partnership with the land owner, has entered the project to restore Dirtlow Rake Quarry in the Mineral Products Association’s National Restoration Awards.
Work at Dirtlow has been carried out in conjunction with local farmers and the Peak District National Park Authority. This work has taken away the negative visual impact of the former mineral workings and spoil heaps at Dirtlow Rake. As a bonus, not only does this area now fit back into the local landscape, the farmer has opened a permissive path across the site. Lafarge has also installed a public information board so that newcomers to the area have an understanding of the history of the area and the work that has gone into restoring the quarry.
Hope Works quarries manager Jeremy Elvins explains said, “Although the Dirtlow Rake land is not now owned by Lafarge, it borders our limestone quarry. As a company committed to restoration and landscaping to minimise the visual impact of our operations, we felt it was important that we proactively worked with our neighbours to assist in restoring these former fluorspar and barytes workings.
“We worked closely with the Dalton family, the farmers who owned the land surface, and whose aim was to regain the land for grazing after the quarrying operation had come to an end.
“The restoration project involved a complex series of negotiations between Lafarge and surrounding land owners; and involved the movement of around one million tonnes of waste material and the transfer of soil from Hope
“We are delighted with the result of this huge team effort. We have transformed a former quarrying site, which was subject to fly-tipping, back into productive farmland. The restoration has resulted in a softened landform which both enhances the views and walks for visitors to this part of the Peak District, and preserves the interesting geological features exposed in the wall of the former workings.”
If shortlisted for the awards, MPA judges will visit the site before making their decision on the winner of the award which will be announced next year.
