UK Grid Reference: NY890444
Latitude: 54°47'39"N
Longitude: 2°10'15"W
The Frazer's Hush Mine was developed on the Greencleugh Vein, a western extension of of the Red Vein which runs most the length of Rookhopeburn. The mine takes its name from a nearby hushing site which likely dates from medieval times. Hushing was a form of hydraulic mining in which a stream was dammed and allowed to pond. The dam was then breached, allowing the rushing water to strip away the downstream top soil, exposing bedrock and any ore-bearing deposits present.
Numerous older workings are present in the vicinity, but the Frazer's Hush Mine proper was established in the early 1970's when a drilling program revealed substantial fluorspar deposits on the Greencleugh Vein to below the level of the Great Limestone. Work was initiated by the Weardale Lead Company but was soon taken over by SAMUK, who drove an incline from surface (433 meters) down to the 338 level in the middle of the Great Limestone. The levels of the Frazer's Hush Mine are numbered from sea level, unlike other local mines which usually number levels by depth from surface at the mine entrance.
Operation of the mine was taken over by Weardale Minerals Company in the late 1980's. The mine was operated until shut-down in 1999, and eventually joined up with with the underground workings of the Groverake Mine, immediately to the east. During the late 1980's to early 1990's the mine produced numerous specimens of glassy, transparent, twinned purple fluorite crystals, associated with quartz or sulphides such as galena or sphalerite. Most of these came from the 340 and 325 levels in the Great Limestone.
All the surface plant was removed shortly after closure and the entrance to the- mostly flooded- workings of the decline sealed.
Mineral List
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