Lake Asphalt of Trinidad and Tobago
Encyclopedia
Lake Asphalt of Trinidad and Tobago is a company based in La Brea
in Trinidad
involved in the mining, processing and exporting of asphalt
products from the Pitch Lake
.
who took out a patent for the use of asphalt from the Lake at La Brea. J.W. Previte and A.L Barber later joined the team and in 1888 secured a 21-year concession for the exploitation of the Lake. In 1949 the business was renamed The Trinidad Lake Asphalt Company. Ownership remained with the Previte Company based in the UK which comprised a network approximately 24 public companies around the world through which the asphalt was sold.
The Limmer & Trinidad Lake Asphalt Company
became the first contractor to use asphalt from the Lake for road surfacing. In the early 1970s the UK market switched to Coal tar
, asphalt became a much less popular product and the Government of Trinidad and Tobago
took ownership of the asphalt extraction business in 1978.
La Brea, Trinidad and Tobago
La Brea is a town in southwestern Trinidad, located north of Point Fortin and south of Rousillac and San Fernando. La Brea is best known as the site of the Pitch Lake, a natural asphalt lake. Pronunciation of "La Brea" differs from that used in the USA at the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles...
in Trinidad
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...
involved in the mining, processing and exporting of asphalt
Asphalt
Asphalt or , also known as bitumen, is a sticky, black and highly viscous liquid or semi-solid that is present in most crude petroleums and in some natural deposits, it is a substance classed as a pitch...
products from the Pitch Lake
Pitch Lake
The Pitch Lake is the largest natural deposit of asphalt in the world, located at La Brea in southwest Trinidad, within the Siparia Regional Corporation. The lake covers about 40 ha and is reported to be 75 m deep....
.
History
The business was founded in 1851 by the tenth Earl of DundonaldThomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald
Admiral Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, 1st Marquess of Maranhão, GCB, ODM , styled Lord Cochrane between 1778 and 1831, was a senior British naval flag officer and radical politician....
who took out a patent for the use of asphalt from the Lake at La Brea. J.W. Previte and A.L Barber later joined the team and in 1888 secured a 21-year concession for the exploitation of the Lake. In 1949 the business was renamed The Trinidad Lake Asphalt Company. Ownership remained with the Previte Company based in the UK which comprised a network approximately 24 public companies around the world through which the asphalt was sold.
The Limmer & Trinidad Lake Asphalt Company
Limmer Holdings
-History:The Company was founded circa 1881 as the Limmer & Trinidad Lake Asphalt Company with the objective of undertaking road contracting using high quality asphalt from Limmer in France and from the Pitch Lake in Trinidad. The company was based in Carnwarth Road in Fulham and secured major...
became the first contractor to use asphalt from the Lake for road surfacing. In the early 1970s the UK market switched to Coal tar
Coal tar
Coal tar is a brown or black liquid of extremely high viscosity, which smells of naphthalene and aromatic hydrocarbons. Coal tar is among the by-products when coal iscarbonized to make coke or gasified to make coal gas...
, asphalt became a much less popular product and the Government of Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...
took ownership of the asphalt extraction business in 1978.