Haematite

The principal ore mineral of iron, a form of iron oxide (Fe2O3) ranging in colour from steel-grey to deep red, and the source of the exceptionally pure, high-grade iron ore that made west Cumbria's iron industry so significant.

Historical usage

Cumbrian haematite mining flourished through the 19th and early-to-mid 20th centuries, feeding the region's own ironworks and, from the mid-19th century, the new Bessemer steelmaking process — since haematite's naturally low phosphorus content made it ideal for that process, which could not tolerate phosphorus-rich ore without embrittling the finished steel. The last Cumbrian haematite mine, Florence Mine, closed in 2007, and was described as the last haematite mine working anywhere in Europe.

How it worked

Cumbrian haematite typically formed where iron-rich mineralising fluids replaced pockets and fissures within Carboniferous limestone, producing large, irregular ore bodies rather than a regular seam or vein. The ore itself occurs in several recognisable forms, including the fibrous, rounded 'kidney ore' variety, with distinctive conical broken fragments known as 'pencil ore'.

Why it was used

Cumbrian haematite's combination of high iron content — typically 50 to 60 per cent — and exceptionally low phosphorus (below 0.02 per cent) made it specifically prized for the acid Bessemer steelmaking process, giving the region's iron industry a real competitive advantage for decades until steelmaking technology elsewhere caught up and reduced that natural edge.

Risks & limitations

Because it occurs in large but irregular replacement deposits rather than a predictable seam, haematite ore bodies could be difficult to locate and follow consistently, making exploration and steady production genuinely harder than working a well-defined vein or coal seam.

Regional variation

Distinct from magnetite, a different and more strongly magnetic iron oxide, and from the sedimentary blackband ironstone worked in districts such as Rosedale in Yorkshire — haematite replacement deposits, sedimentary ironstone beds and magnetite ores are three genuinely different kinds of iron ore, not regional names for the same thing.

Images

Mines associated with this term

Included only where MineArchive's own research gives a reasonable evidential basis — not every mine where this might plausibly apply.

• Beckermet Mine — Cumbria (well documented example)
  The mine's own recorded summary and history explicitly describe working haematite iron ore.
• Florence Mine — Cumbria (well documented example)
  The mine's own recorded summary explicitly describes it as a haematite mine, the last working in Europe when it closed in 2007.
• Hodbarrow Mine — Cumbria (well documented example)
  The mine's own recorded summary explicitly describes it as one of the richest and largest haematite iron mines in the world.
• Lindal Moor — Cumbria (well documented example)
  The mine's own recorded summary explicitly describes working haematite iron ore.
• Sandlodge Mine — Shetland Islands (well documented example)
  The mine's own recorded history explicitly describes working haematite alongside chalcopyrite and malachite.

Sources

1. (primary) Haematite deposits of Cumbria — BGS Earthwise
2. (secondary) Hodbarrow Mines — Industrial History of Cumbria

Record created: 24 August 2026 · Last researched: 24 August 2026