Blackdene Mine, Ireshopeburn, Stanhope, County Durham, England, UKi

Regional Level Types
Blackdene Mine	Mine (Inactive)
Ireshopeburn	Village
Stanhope	Civil Parish
County Durham	County
England	Constituent Country
UK	Country

Blackdene Mine, Ireshopeburn, Weardale, County Durham, England, UK

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The Blackdene Mine is located just north of the River Wear, between the villages of St. John's Chapel and Ireshopeburn. Lead mining on many of the numerous veins in this area dates back to at least the early 15th century. The Blackdene Mine proper was originally developed by the Beaumont Company in the early 19th century for lead. The main workings followed the Blackdene Vein northeastward from near the banks of the River Wear and eventually intersected those of the Elmsford Mine, which worked a nearby section of the Slitt Vein.

Fluorspar was mined from both the Blackdene and Slitt Veins during the early 20th century, but the mine appears to have been abandoned when acquired by United Steel in 1949. Extensive exploration and development in Blackdene occurred during the 1950s at levels between the Three Yard Limestone to below the Scar Limestone. By 1973 commercial reserves on the Blackdene Vein appeared exhausted, and a new incline was driven to access unmined portions of the Slitt Vein. With the nationalisation of the steel industry, ownership of the mine passed to British Steel, but it was disposed of when the industry crashed in 1982. Weardale Mining and Processing continued to operate the mine until 1987, when it was finally closed. Most of the mine is now inaccessible due to flooding, and what is still accessible is badly understoped.

Note: The Slitt Vein is not to be confused with the Slitt Mine, Westgate, Weardale.

A note on the current state of this location. The few mineral dumps that remain are thickly covered in vegetation, and no minerals apparent were worth taking. Although a public road leads up to the mine, the land seems to have been acquired by a property developer, who will no doubt challenge your right to be there. Ensure that you are not trespassing before you set foot onto the land. Having said this, there was no sign stating that the site was private property, and I suspect that the person I briefly spoke to may have only rights to one single plot of the land. I will be making formal enquiries about this and will publish my findings in due course.

Commodity List

This is a list of exploitable or exploited mineral commodities recorded at this locality.

Mineral List

10 valid minerals.