Go to the Main Scottish Cave and Mine Database Search Page

Bin Hill Quarry

The Bin, Huntly, Aberdeenshire.

Quarry & Mine (both 20th c.).

"Our guide at the time [to Peregrine bird hide] told us that the birds were nesting in a tunnel emerging on to a quarry face and that the tunnel was created by mining in the area during the war. The hide is now closed and the quarry fenced off due to instability and frequent rock falls." [J. Swanson]

The mine tunnel reported above probably wrought graphite from veins within the gabbro intrusion. Sulphides are also present at this site, largely in the form of pyrrhotite, with rare pyrite. "In Britain, the Bin Hill graphite is second in graphite abundance only to the graphite in Ordovician andesites at Borrowdale, England" [Parnell et al., 2020].

Alternative Names: Bin Quarry

Notes: "Irregular discordant bodies of graphite- and sulphide-bearing orthopyroxene-rich pegmatites occur in the West Huntly cumulate body. Two such bodies, up to 3.5 m wide, are exposed in the Bin Quarry [NJ 49 43]. They are heterogeneous in texture and composition. The principal silicate mineral is orthopyroxene, but some zones are highly feldspathic. The graphite and sulphide contents are also highly variable, each locally comprising up to 50 per cent of the rock." [Read, 1923]

"The most important form of carbon during World War II was graphite, a mineral form of carbon with a range of industrial uses. Graphite is the only non-metal element that is a excellent conductor of electricity. Graphite is a solid material and thus classified as a 'dry' lubricant. This is makes it useful in a range of applications in which 'wet' lubricants, such as oil, cannot be used. Natural graphite is primarily used in refractory applications. This means high intensity heat processes. This demands materials that will not melt or disintegrate under extreme heat. An example is in the crucibles used by the steel industry. These applications were the primary use of graphite during the War. Of course graphite was also used in the process of building nuclear weapons. It is also used to make brake linings, lubricants, and molds in foundries." [Histclo.com]

The quarry is a renowned location for layered gabbro cumulates, hence it's SSSI designation

Given coordinates based on 6 figure NGR.

Hydrographic Feeds: None

Hydrographic Resurgences: None