Location

Nentsberry Haggs Mine, Alston Moor, Eden, Cumbria, England.

Introduction

Sometimes referred to Nentbury Haggs mine, Nentsberry Haggs has a long and varied history that can prove to be a little patchy in places. The mine covers a reasonably large area and has workings in both Cumbria and Northumberland both of which have produced interesting mineral specimens. At Nentsberry Haggs lead production started around 1852, for zinc it started 1875 and witherite started in 1894 Baryte has also been produced at times as well. Production from the Cumbrian workings seems to have ended around 1912. Up to that date the mine produced 1,366 tons of Galena, 10,939 tons of Sphalerite and 1,600 tons of Witherite.

In the Cumbria section, there are extensive workings associated with the Second Sun vein. The large flats that are accessed from this vein are known as the Admiralty flats or the Admiralty concession. Access to these flats is via a large rise that can prove to be "interesting" due to the dilapidated state of the mine. Part of these flats have produced some of the crystals of Alstonite that have been altered to Baryte along with Sphalerite and Galena. These flats are fairly large and extensive, they also seem to occur in the middle and high flat horizon of the Great Limestone. The main minerals occurring here are Galena, Sphalerite, Baryte, Witherite and Barytocalcite. These flats have produced some excellent specimens of ruby red Sphalerites. Also lovely honey brown Barytocalcite has been found in masses of off white Witherite. The flats especially the upper flats are rich in Witherite which can occur in rather large football sized crystals. Either as unaltered masses or rather nice cauliflower like crystal masses that have been heavily altered and etched with the surface now being Baryte. This part of the mine has only been partly worked Dunham thinks there is still a reasonable amount of ore remaining on this vein as there is still 518m of untested ground before the continuation of this vein has been worked in Northumberland. The ore produced on this vein produced 6.8% lead sulphide and 10.12% zinc sulphide. 

A new group of veins was discovered by the Vieille Montagne Zinc Co of Belgium in the inter war period, across the county boundary in Northumberland. This was the most important discovery on the orefield in this period. The VM Zinc Co., acquired the mine in 1913/14 from the Lugdale Chemical Co., by this time the workings on the High Raise vein had already crossed into Northumberland. Following the High Raise vein lead to the discovery of the intersecting Sincay, Cox and Dupont veins. Following these veins lead to the discovery of the parallell to the High raise vein being the First and second Sun veins as well as the Treloar vein. East of where the Wellhope Shaft was sunk the veins have been intersected by old mans working related to the Beaumont period. These workings are from the Wellhope Low level. This level was driven in the shale above the Great Limestone, trials had been made into the First and Second Sun veins as well as Treloar vein, via sumps. Here the veins mainly consist of Sphalerite and Witherite so have not been worked by the Beaumont co. This was fortunate for the VM Zinc co., as this has left large ore bodies of lead in place to the South East of these trials.

The ore shoots in this group of veins are confined to the 13.7m below the black beds there are no true flats developed in this area but there has been some replacement of the limestone on the First Sun Vein. All the veins have been found in the Quarry Hazel but all have been proven unproductive. The veins where not trialled at depth till 1948 when the Anglo-Austral Mining Co., Ltd. This company deepened Coe’s sump near the intersection of the Cox and Trealoar vein plus a sump near the intersection of the Liverick and First Sun veins. These sumps are supposed to have been sunk to the Four Fathom Limestone but the ground proved to be uneconomic.

Most of this stoping has been done in the Lead ore shoots as due to the small size of these ore shoots concentrating on the rich lead zones was the only way to make the mine pay. In the early stages of development of these veins all the ore was trammed to the Nentsberry Haggs mine mill, this required the ore to be transported for miles underground to the mill which made the veins expensive to work. The mill itself could treat 4 tons of ore per hour s equipped with crushers, rollers, Jigs and tables. Dunham noted the excellent grade of concentrate that the mill produced. Between 1923-1938 277,657 tons of crude ore yielded 33,998 tons of lead concentrate grading at 80% lead metal. This represents an ore grade of 12.2% Galena with the best year being 18.5%. the mill had trouble treating the Zinc Witherite ore that also occurred as mining progressed away from the Lead ore bodies. The specific gravity of Sphalerite and Witherite are close so the usual mechanical process of treating the ore that was used on the orefield meant that an adequate separation could not be achieve.

In order to make the working of these veins more efficient in 1925 the Wellhope shaft was sunk 127m near to the intersection of the High Raise vein and Duponts vein. As the shaft head is high on the moor and rather inaccessible an ariel ropeway was installed to take the ore down to the Rampgill mill at Nenthead. The ariel ropeway never really worked well and was soon decommissioned. Evidence of them can still be seen with the supports visible, good examples can be seen next to the high road between Nenthead and Alston. Some ore was trucked from the shaft to the Rampgill mill when the ropeway was closed.

Collector's Guide

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Notable Finds

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Collecting History

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