Scorodite, Hemerdon Ball Mine, Devon, England

Mineral Matters #397

Hemerdon Ball is sometimes referred to as Hemerdon Bal, and there is ongoing conjecture as to which should be the correct name. Not that it really matters, as the mine is currently called the Drakelands Mine!

It is a tungsten and tin mine located in Devon, England and was discovered in 1867, and briefly mined twice in the 1900s, once in the early 20th century and again during a trial operation in the 1980s. It remained inactive until a project to reopen it began in 2014 under the name Drakelands Mine. This ceased operations in 2018.

It was considered a world-class deposit due to the scale of the tungsten and tin resources. The deposit is centred on a sub-vertical granite dyke hosted by Devonian metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks.

One of the best-known minerals that occurs at the mine is transparent blue scorodite, an iron arsenate mineral. Mindat has 83 mineral photos of scorodite from this location!

Below: Scorodite, Hemerdon Ball Mine, Plympton, Devon, England, UK. Width of view 3.5mm. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.