Our story
Sustainable and ethically sourced Aggregates
Perfectly formed over
Millions of years
Across the UK there are many deposits of natural stone such as limestone, sandstone and slate that have been used to create historic buildings in our towns, villages and cities.
Slate is one of the most durable and versatile materials available. The Welsh and Cumbrian slate from which our plum and blue/grey slate aggregates originate were formed from metamorphosed sedimentary rock 430-500 million years ago in the Cambrian and Silurian periods, and the green slate from Coniston in Cumbria is extracted from metamorphosed volcanic ash during the Ordovician period.
Extraction
The use of indigenous slate for roofs, walls and floors means that often 50-75 metres of surface material is removed from the quarry before the best grade rock is accessible. This enables slate benches to be formed and block cut to enable the manufacture of roofing and architectural products, and where smaller non workable stone blocks and offcuts can then be recycled for use in making decorative and construction aggregates.
Limestone rock and sand are normal sensitively cut from seams that sit much closer to the ground surface.
Processing
Before processing into aggregates the rock is carefully selected, ensuring only clean material is loaded into an impact crusher, which has a rotating blade that reduces the rock piece sizes and creates its shape.
The resulting material is then graded by size as it moves through a series of mesh screens, enabling it to be segregated. The walling and rockery products are hand-selected using a picking station that is fed from the weathered material that originates from the original rivings and offcuts from slate craftsmen splitting roof slates.
Delivery
Our aggregates and walling are pre-bagged at the quarry into 850kg, 450kg, and 200kg bag sizes before placing onto a pallet for ease of handing.
The pallets are then delivered from the quarry using the pallet network directly to your door, which is the most efficient method to distribute your product as it cuts out the middlemen and the many additional road miles normally incurred moving large bulk loads of material via distribution centres, as thereby significantly reduces CO2 emissions and vehicle movements.
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