Underground operations
Watersaw Mine
The surface portal to the
Watersaw undeground mine
Ore was extracted from Watersaw Mine from beneath Longstone Edge,
under Arthurton West open pit and to the west of Arthurton West
Extension. The company employed a sub level mining method with
subsidence of the ground immediately above the mine. Six men worked in
the mine and produced up to 30,000 tonnes of calcium fluoride (CaF2)
per annum. Waste limestone from the mine heading is stocked for
subsequent placement in subsidence hollows. The mine is
currently on a care maintenance programme as underground mine
development has been transferred to Milldam Mine.
Milldam Mine
One of the main roadways within
the Watersaw mine
Milldam Mine was designed to allow the extraction of vein minerals
from the Hucklow Edge vein system. An adit, declining at 1 in 8
allows the use of larger rubber tyred machinery thereby improving the
economic viability of mining. In the early 20th Century fluorspar
was first sought, and it was the demand for a higher quality material,
which lead to the re-opening of the old Glebe Lead Mine in the village
of Eyam.
From 1936 until 1979 the mine workings steadily extended north to join
with the old Ladywash Lead Mine. The workings continued 2km west under
Hucklow Edge along the vein system, until production limitations around
using a 222 metre deep shaft and narrow gauge underground rail haulage
meant that the mine became uneconomic.
Production from Milldam Mine began in 1991, at the point where work had
ceased within the Ladywash Mine in 1979, and continued until the
closure of Laporte Minerals in 1999. Glebe Mines retained the
mine infrastructure on a care maintenance programme since 1999.
Glebe is now implementing its plans to re-develop the mine by
reconnecting the mains power supply, refurbishing the surface and
underground mine infrastructure and re-establishing its underground
vein mineral production during 2009.