The first sand from a new NSG joint venture mine on the west coast of Scotland is now being used to produce Pilkington Optiwhite on UK5 at Greengate in St Helens. Lochaline Quartz Sand Ltd is the Group's second such JV with Italian mining company Gruppo Minerali Maffei, and its first ever such enterprise in the UK. It is expected to yield up to 100,000/t per year over a 10 year span and has created 11 jobs in the small village community. The mine produces high quality, low-iron silica sand, required for solar products and for extra clear float glass with high light transmissions, such as Pilkington Optiwhite. The Group has previously sourced this specialist material from Egypt and Europe for its UK operations. "This is a significant investment for us," said Matt Buckley, MD for the Architecture SBU in the UK & Ireland. "Securing a local supply of raw materials in this way underlines the Group's commitment to the UK manufacturing operations and significantly reduces our transport costs. "The first supplies are earmarked for the Pilkington Optiwhite runs, but there may well be opportunities to supply outside companies from the mine in the future." Shipments to the Pilkington store at Runcorn began immediately and the sand was first used in a run of Pilington's Optiwhite in November.
