DSF Refractories and Minerals Limited (formerly Derbyshire Silica Firebrick Co Ltd) is the last major British producer of
refractory
In materials science, a refractory material or refractory is a material that is resistant to decomposition by heat, pressure, or chemical attack, and retains strength and form at high temperatures. Refractories are polycrystalline, polyphase, ...
products, both shaped and unshaped. DSF is located in
Friden within the Derbyshire's Peak National Park.
DSF is also a processor and supplier of crushed and graded refractory raw materials for other applications such as coloured road-stone. By the 1960s, the business diversified into supplying other industries including steel, glass and cement.
DSF was established in 1993 following the receivership of DSF Refractories Ltd and its parent company BH-F. British Hartford-Fairmont Ltd 'BH-F' had owned the company since 1987. They acquired DSF to support their business in the
glass
Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling (quenching) of ...
industry from West Group International 'WGI' who had as West Gas Improvement formed the company in 1892 as Derbyshire Silica Firebrick Ltd to support WGI's gas development business by the manufacture of refractories for use in the production of town gas.
Nowadays the brickworks at Friden makes high-alumina refractory bricks and blocks which are exported worldwide for use by the heat containment industries, such as glass, cement, steel and petrochemical manufacturers. The company also supplies refractory minerals to other refractory manufacturers for use in the ceramics industries as well as in welding and road surface products. Despite the closure in the 1990s of the nearby silica pits which supplied raw materials, the company remains a major local employer. As at 2015, it employed approximately 115 people.
[
]
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:DSF Refractories and Minerals Ltd
Refractory materials
British companies established in 1993
Companies based in Derbyshire
Manufacturing companies of England
Manufacturing companies established in 1993
Employee-owned companies of the United Kingdom