80m below ground, a gypsum quarry in Val-d’Oise open to the public

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Make yourself known to habitants.

This was the aim of the days open doorsorganized by squaregypsum operator in the region.

Friday October 4 and Saturday October 5, in its gypsum quarry in the Montmorency massif (Val-d’Oise), whose entrance is located in Baillet-en-France, nearly 400 visitors were able to discover a well-kept place, just under their feet.

A huge place

The quarry represents an area of 1 418 haof which 945 ha are exclusively operated by Saint-Gobain and its intermediary Placo.

It is located in ten municipalities: Baillet-en-France, Bessancourt, Bethmont, Bouffémont, Chauvry, DomontMontlignon, Saint-Leu-la-Forêt, Saint-Prix and Taverns.

The site provides around fifty jobs in the quarry, as well as one hundred local indirect jobs. Gypsum extraction represents 650,000 tonnes per year.

The latter indicates that it is “the largest in surface area and the purest gypsum deposit In France “.

As a reminder, this mineral tender was deposited in Île-de-France 40 million years ago.

70% of French gypsum is found in the region.

The primary goal of open days lies in this desire to show the activity underground to local residents.

“We are between 60 and 80m under the ground. Most people don’t know what’s happening under their feet, it’s important to explain to them,” adds Gilles Bouchet.

On the program: transport from Baillet-en-France to the site, arrival by minibus then explanations from the workers.

For one hour, the process of foragethe use of dynamitethe operation of the machines and backfilling are explained.

Surprised residents

It’s impressive. Careers are bigger and more complex than I thought. The processes used are very technical.

It has been more than twelve years since any animation had not been organized, “the experience was only positive,” according to Placo.

“We want to explain to residents that we have no impact on the landscape and that we respect the environment,” concludes José Cardoso, manager of the Baillet site.

In fact, each year, Placo pays more than one million euros on average to the National Office of forests (Onf), for the exploitation of basement of the Montmorency massif.

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