Milldam Spar Mine, Derbyshire - October 2023
‘The last working mine in Derbyshire’
Driven in the mid 80’s after closure of Sallet Hole Mine and Ladywash Mine before it - this is (or was) the last working mine in Derbyshire.
British Fluorspar (now owned by Fluorside) have now ceased operations at Milldam due to making considerable financial losses, laid off most of their staff and stripped the mine and the nearby processing plant Cavendish Mill.
The official word is Milldam is to be placed on ‘care and maintenance’ for the foreseeable future until the price of fluorspar allows for underground extraction to recommence. Opinion in the underground world differs - with those ‘in the know’ having the opinion the company will fold for good. This will effectively bring to an end around 300 years of continuous mining along Hucklow Edge.
The original Milldam Mine was worked for lead from 1850 by the Mill Dam Co until the decreasing price of lead made extraction unprofitable, with the mine closing around 1895. The modern spar workings recover the unworked in-situ vein minerals - fluorspar, barite and calcite - with the modern mine workings stretching all the way over to towards Ladywash at Eyam Edge.
A bit of info about the mining method used from a PDF I’ve forgotten the name of;
Milldam Mine utilises trackless vehicles with no winding shafts. Mining operations no longer take place inside the mineral vein, relying instead on tunnels (sub-levels) driven through the host limestone adjacent and parallel to the vein, which is then worked from a series of short cross-cuts (slits) connecting with it. Tunnels wide enough and high enough to accommodate large vehicles require no artificial roof support where they are driven through the thickly-bedded Monsal Dale Limestone. Fans of shot holes are drilled into the vein from each slit and the vein mineral is fragmented by blasting and excavated safely as it pours through the slits. The width of the vein is variable and exceeds 11 m in places, although this is usually where multiple, individual veins separated by faulted slices (riders) of limestone are extracted as a bulk orebody, leaving a large empty underground void. The mining scheme requires the empty stopes to be backfilled with the broken rock generated from the sub-levels as they are developed in the limestone.
Visited with the best’uns @Mr Budge and @Gsxrwayne - extra special thanks to Mr Budge for all the help, hopefully he will be along with his pictures before too long as he managed to wangle his way in while it was still rammed with stuff before the majority had been stripped out, the lucky beggar.
Along the main drives in the sub levels
Fans, a rail-mounted transformer and a big ass dumper truck
Pumps - these were still running and make a right racket. The water level fluctuated greatly during the time we spent here.
Some older abandoned mine workings
Emergency egress is via an old lead mine shaft
The modern workings have intersected some old lead workings, so I had a quick crawl around
A back-lit shot to end with
‘The last working mine in Derbyshire’
Driven in the mid 80’s after closure of Sallet Hole Mine and Ladywash Mine before it - this is (or was) the last working mine in Derbyshire.
British Fluorspar (now owned by Fluorside) have now ceased operations at Milldam due to making considerable financial losses, laid off most of their staff and stripped the mine and the nearby processing plant Cavendish Mill.
The official word is Milldam is to be placed on ‘care and maintenance’ for the foreseeable future until the price of fluorspar allows for underground extraction to recommence. Opinion in the underground world differs - with those ‘in the know’ having the opinion the company will fold for good. This will effectively bring to an end around 300 years of continuous mining along Hucklow Edge.
The original Milldam Mine was worked for lead from 1850 by the Mill Dam Co until the decreasing price of lead made extraction unprofitable, with the mine closing around 1895. The modern spar workings recover the unworked in-situ vein minerals - fluorspar, barite and calcite - with the modern mine workings stretching all the way over to towards Ladywash at Eyam Edge.
A bit of info about the mining method used from a PDF I’ve forgotten the name of;
Milldam Mine utilises trackless vehicles with no winding shafts. Mining operations no longer take place inside the mineral vein, relying instead on tunnels (sub-levels) driven through the host limestone adjacent and parallel to the vein, which is then worked from a series of short cross-cuts (slits) connecting with it. Tunnels wide enough and high enough to accommodate large vehicles require no artificial roof support where they are driven through the thickly-bedded Monsal Dale Limestone. Fans of shot holes are drilled into the vein from each slit and the vein mineral is fragmented by blasting and excavated safely as it pours through the slits. The width of the vein is variable and exceeds 11 m in places, although this is usually where multiple, individual veins separated by faulted slices (riders) of limestone are extracted as a bulk orebody, leaving a large empty underground void. The mining scheme requires the empty stopes to be backfilled with the broken rock generated from the sub-levels as they are developed in the limestone.
Visited with the best’uns @Mr Budge and @Gsxrwayne - extra special thanks to Mr Budge for all the help, hopefully he will be along with his pictures before too long as he managed to wangle his way in while it was still rammed with stuff before the majority had been stripped out, the lucky beggar.
Along the main drives in the sub levels
Fans, a rail-mounted transformer and a big ass dumper truck
Pumps - these were still running and make a right racket. The water level fluctuated greatly during the time we spent here.
Some older abandoned mine workings
Emergency egress is via an old lead mine shaft
The modern workings have intersected some old lead workings, so I had a quick crawl around
A back-lit shot to end with
I think goonage is inevitable here since it's already started to trickle its way onto TikTok and the likes, but best kept in here for the time being because BF don't take too kindly to trespassers.
