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Groverake fluorspar mine, originally opening in 1878 by the Weardale Lead Company.
Situated in Weardale, County Durham. In the turn of the 20th Century several private companies worked the mine here including Blanchland Fluor Mines Ltd.
During the second world war the mine was assisted by ‘bevin boys’ a Labour shortage solution named after the wartime labour minister Ernest Bevin. Where some Armed Forces conscripts instead of being sent to war, were instead sent to work in the pits.
This was mainly for the much needed Coal, however other materials were in desperate shortage and fluorspar was one such material, Some 48,000 men were sent into this alien world, rather than to the front line including future stars Eric Morecambe and the disgraced Jimmy Saville.
British Steel took over ownership of many private fluorspar mines after it was formed on 28th July 1967.
Groverake was not, rather being bought by the lucrative ICI company which was later taken over by Swiss Aluminium (SAMUK).
Much development work to find new deposits was carried out by SAMUK but in 1982 all mining interests in fluorspar came into common ownership by Minworth Ltd. Mining continued towards the millennium but due to cheap imports of non-stick pans (produced with fluorspar as a main ingredient) Minworth Ltd went into administration in 1999 and mining ceased.
Now capped and flooded, the main pit cavens dug deep below the surface have returned to nature and are inaccessible, however lets now explore the shaft headgear and pit tunnels that are still accessible.
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Chapters;
0:00 Headgear
5:20 Big Drop
6:41 The Climb
12:51 Buildings
14:10 Into the Drift
27:20 Diesel
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