Kinlochlevan aluminium works

This is an aluminium-smelting works built by the British Aluminium Co Ltd, and sited here to use hydro-electric power obtained by building a dam on the Blackwater which supplies water to a private power station in the works.

This view shows the northern part of the works, with offices and stores in the foreground, and to the rear the former carbon plant, which made the carbon blocks which are used in the construction of the electric cells used in smelting aluminium.

Aluminium is smelted by dissolving aluminium oxide in aluminium fluoride (cryolite) and passing an electric current through the molten mass, The liquid aluminium collects in the bottom of the cell, and is sucked out at regular intervals.