Pictures provided by: jcb
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◊ 2020-07-13 20:23 |
How the aluminium industry was established in the Highlands. Nikola Tesla Film Festival, Belgrade, 1962 - Diploma. What more can I say ! -- Last edit: 2020-07-13 20:40:03 |
◊ 2020-07-13 21:50 |
Free to view here- Link to "movingimage.nls.uk" Most vehicles in last 3 mins. -- Last edit: 2020-07-13 22:12:22 |
◊ 2020-07-16 11:12 |
Also seen in the centre background what could be an AEC half-cab dumper? Plus a Coventry Climax fork lift that is way off my radar, plus what is probably an Electricar 2-Ton elevating-platform truck. http://archive.commercialmotor.com/article/5th-march-1948/32/power-trucks-introduced |
◊ 2020-07-16 14:41 |
Early scenes from bauxite mine in Ghana, with a staggering lack of concern for health and safety. |
◊ 2020-07-17 08:19 |
So the same as with the mines in Africa today, where children slaves are scratching the material for the marvellously sustaining E-mobility. |
◊ 2020-07-17 08:21 |
Is something left of it since the times of Iron Maggie? |
◊ 2020-07-17 11:52 |
What would she have had to do with it? Your automatic assumptions do you no credit. Aspirations to a political career demand that you check your facts first, just like all our excellent British politicians do! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Aluminium https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Stedeford -- Last edit: 2020-07-17 13:47:32 |
◊ 2020-07-18 17:32 |
"The production of aluminium in Scotland stretches back more than a century. Harnessing hydroelectric power, it beckoned a new era of industry for the Highlands, seen previously as a remote and inaccessible part of the country. A lightweight and versatile metal, Scottish aluminium was exported all over the world. Founded on 7 May 1894, the British Aluminium Company (BACo) established its first smelter at Foyers in 1896, followed by Kinlochleven in 1909 and Lochaber in 1929. Many years of prosperity followed, particularly during the First and Second World Wars, when great quantities of aluminium were needed for military purposes. BACo was taken over in 1958. Foyers shut down in 1967, but a new smelter opened at Invergordon in 1971. However, after only 10 years of operation, this also closed. The world market for aluminium had changed dramatically. BACo was then bought by a Canadian company, Alcan. Between 1982 and 1996, the company was known as British Alcan Aluminium Plc. Kinlochleven remained open until 2000, leaving Lochaber the sole producer of aluminium in Scotland as of 2017." - from here. Lochaber (Fort William) smelter is still operating, and is Britain’s only aluminium smelter – it supplies food packaging and blister packs for medicines/pharmaceuticals. Attempts are being made for a new factory to produce car wheels, but uncertain if this will happen. |
◊ 2020-07-18 18:07 |
If Airbus found it economically viable to bring 2 ton aluminium billets into the Midlands and North Wales sourced from Pechiney, (French Alps iirc) for wing production, on an oversize trombone trailer, how can the Scottish enterprise compete? OK there would be a saving on transport, but the French outfit must have had lower energy and production costs. Accidents of geography and geology are hard to overcome. -- Last edit: 2020-07-19 10:28:12 |
◊ 2020-07-19 10:27 |
It also appears that Pechiney have fared little better than British Aluminium, ceasing operation in 2003 without any assistance from M. Thatcher. My involvement with the manufacturing of aircraft wings had by then ceased. There are times when politics are outrun by the machinations of big business. -- Last edit: 2020-07-19 10:29:38 |