100 metres below ground the raw materials for plasterboard are being mined near Barrow on Soar. The gypsum mine not far off the A6 between Loughborough and Leicester is one of the biggest in the world. The soft soluble rock runs in a seam right across the midlands and the product from the site is bagged and sent out all over the country. Here we take another look at a set of pictures by photographer Chris Gordon who was given access to the labyrinth 7 years ago for a Leicester Mercury feature with writer Lee Marlow.
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Miners walk along the kilometres of unlit tunnels that make up the mine
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Light at the end of the tunnel
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David North checks the stone being taken from the face on a conveyor belt
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The British Gypsum mine at Barrow on Soar. The pusher that moves the cut stone to a conveyor belt
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The workshop / stores housed underground in a section of the cut mine
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The underground spares department
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The workshop / stores housed underground in a section of the cut mine
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British Gypsum mine
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David North looks a piece of gypsum in the maze of tunnels that makes up the mine
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Paul Fox and Hayden Bogle take a break underground
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A 4×4 transports workers underground the the seam face
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Paul Fox operates the cutting machine at the seam face
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Paul Fox operates the cutting machine at the seam face
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A piece of Gypsum from the mine seems to glow with a light behind it
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Aerial view of the site near Barrow on Soar
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