# Middleton Mine Various Visits 2009 2010 Massive Epic Rock Crusher Conveyour belt



## diehardlove (Mar 31, 2010)

got sometime on my hand and a backlog of places so thought would put some places up thanks for reading sorry about the long thread
Been here with various people well over 16 visits some of the people i have taken down here are in no order

tommo and petzl ( bloody amazing weekend to remember )
klempner69 cheers stu for a cool day
edd cpnick
and his girlfriend,
fazy_uk,
ojay
,trailbreaker
lostexplorer
and dammed if i can remember the rest,
The mine has got alot worst over the last couple of years,we have completed the whole mine inc the old lead workings and abseiled into the drops off the main passage way , its a very easy mine to get lost in due to the shear size of the place and the layout is very similiar
The rumour is this mine is over 3 levals but ive been told its 5 levals with collapes still with machinary in place that was too expensive to extract
this info is from a ex worker 

This mine used to produce around 120 000 tonnes a year of very high quality limestone which is a vital ingredient used in manufacturing plastics, rubber and glass. Middleton Mine has been driven into the hillside from an exisiting surface quarry and follows a particularly pure limestone horizon known as the Bee Low Limestones. Overlying this pure limestone is a bed of impervious volcanic lava that helps to keep the mine dry by acting as a natural barrier to the passage of water. 

Mining is carefully controlled, with large pillars of limestone measuring 17 by 17 metres left in place to support the roof of the mine, which may be up to 15 metres high. Undergound mining of limestone has clear environmental advantages, in that most of the operation is out of site and there is a reduction in impacts such as noise and dust. The main barrier to the wider use of underground mining of limestone is its high cost. Health and safety, and mining regulations are expensive to implement underground, and the need to leave limestone pillars to support the roof means that a significant proportion of the valuable mineral goes unused. The high quality of the limestone worked at Middleton Mine means that its market price offsets the higher costs of going underground.






































































these were used during blasting to check the movement within the mine in this case next to a fault a lead seam


































old wooden powder mixer


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## King Al (Mar 31, 2010)

This place looks great DHL cant believe the size of some of those tunnels!!


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## diehardlove (Mar 31, 2010)

King Al said:


> This place looks great DHL cant believe the size of some of those tunnels!!



cheers king al its massive,ive spent 8 hour days down there times 16 visits,its 22 miles of workings and its a game just to get to the good stuff if you didnt know the mine you could walk for ages and still not find anything any good,The mine has been open for years but kept private ish


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## diehardlove (Mar 31, 2010)

p.s fourth pic up the light in the back is a person for refernence to size


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## Lost Explorer (Mar 31, 2010)

Its wicked this place! SOOOO huge inside!!


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## tommo (Mar 31, 2010)

nice one fella, we had fun, to be fair the last couple of weekenders have been so funny, ski masks and glasses at the ready 

really like your pics thought pic 2 is one of my fav done in this place it looks stunning with the colours of the rusty old metal, in contrast to the boring grey of the place, nice one 


rusty water running in to the lake







loving the colour of the walls with the light coming in, with me for size


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## diehardlove (Mar 31, 2010)

cheers tommo,was a amazing weekend with so many funny times and good places ,il bring the lifejackets,ski masks waders next time 
the last sleepover in the mines was awesome looking forword to the next,good friends loads of cider from the cider farm and more food than you can shake a stick at oh and heavy machinary to play with when drunk


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## klempner69 (Mar 31, 2010)

Excellant stuff there Dave..this is one helluva place to light up as I discovered.
Heres a few of my crap:
Fans



Two levels here plus lake



Daves laser games



Weird!



Conveyor system



Pressure guages attached to ceiling/roof/whatever!



No idea why these were here




Brilliant day thanx Dave.


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## diehardlove (Mar 31, 2010)

stu they are not crap they are really really good love the light trails and the laser pic is really good and the pressure gauge is cool i can never get that pic with lighting,tell you what was a fun day could not go down with a better bloke i always enjoy our explores and the conversation even more,you are welcome at mine anytime and next time bring the other half as kelly needs a few drinks and you need another explore this end just need to buy another blow up bed after petzl had finised with it


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