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[[File:Glensanda and quarry.jpg|thumb|left|The quarry]]
[[File:Kreiselbrecher.JPG|thumb|right|Gloryhole]]
In 1976 the UK Government commissioned [[Sir Ralph Verney, 5th Baronet|Sir Ralph Verney]] to analyse the shortage of aggregates for building. The resulting "Verney report" led John Yeoman, Chairman of Foster Yeoman, to the idea of a super-quarry situated in a remote location from which stone could be exported by sea. To this end in 1982 he bought the {{convert|2400|ha|acre|adj=on}} Glensanda estate in Argyll{{r|Hub4}} from Mrs Patricia Strutt who also owned the
To minimise visual impact from the coast the quarry is sited {{convert|1|mi|km|abbr=on}} inland, and cut down into the mountain {{convert|1600|ft|m|abbr=on|sigfig=1}} above sea level.However there is now considerable impact on the coastline from blasted rock faces and lights which spoil the night sky. Each explosive blast dislodges about 70,000 tons of granite, which is transported by dump truck to the primary crusher, which reduces it to lumps no bigger than nine inches in diameter.{{r|Indy}} It is then transferred by conveyor belt to a heap that covers the "glory hole", a {{convert|1000|ft|m|abbr=on}} vertical shaft {{convert|10|ft|m|0|abbr=on}} in diameter, which is permanently full of rocks. At the base of the glory hole, deep inside the mountain, rocks are transferred to a horizontal conveyor and moved through a {{convert|1|mi|km|adj=mid|-long}} tunnel to the second crusher on the shore, where oceangoing ships are loaded in the deep-water docks at the rate of 6,000 tons per hour.{{r|Indy}}
In 1998 there were approximately 160 employees either
Reserves of granite are estimated to last at least until the year 2100, when the excavation will have created a new [[Cirque|corrie]] {{convert|1+1/2|mi|km|abbr=on}} square and {{convert|400|ft|m|abbr=on}} deep.{{r|Indy}}
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