Here’s a UNIC mini crane hard at work in a particularly unusual location, 600 feet underground at Winsford Rock Salt Mine in Cheshire.

A UNIC URW-095 mini spider crane was purchased especially from GGR Group to assist with lifting projects down in the mines, helping with maintenance work on the mine’s conveyor belts and processing lines.

Winsford is the UK’s oldest working mine and largest rock salt mine at roughly the size of 700 football pitches. After being discovered in 1844 then closing in 1892, the mine reopened in 1928 and now supplies rock salt used to de-ice Britain’s roads during the winter. The dark and dry environment in the mine is also used as a storage facility for historical records, documents and even paintings.

The 0.995 tonne capacity mini crane will be helping with the mining process of salt that was formed in the Triassic period when the UK was still joined to the rest of Europe as Eurasia, 220 million years ago!

Thanks to their compact size, UNIC mini cranes can easily be transported into underground working locations like Winsford Salt Mine, East Dulwich water treatment plant and a bunker at the Cyclotron Research Centre in Belgium.