Billingham anhydrite mine, Billingham, Stockton-on-Tees, North Yorkshire, England, UKi

Regional Level Types
Billingham anhydrite mine	Mine
Billingham	Town
Stockton-on-Tees	Unitary Authority
North Yorkshire	County
England	Constituent Country
UK	Country

Billingham anhydrite mine is located on the north bank of the River Tees, near Stockton. Shaft sinking began in September 1926 and bottomed 14 months later at a depth of 850 ft. By 1953 the mine incorporated 200 miles of underground roadways and one square mile of workings. Production ceased in 1971 and the mine closed in 1978 when the shaft was capped.

Owned and operated by Imperial Chemical Industries, Billingham anhydrite mine formed part of the giant ICI Billingham works that covered a site of about 1,000 acres and was, in the 1960s, the second largest chemical factory in the world. A visit by Aldous Huxley to the Billingham site is said to have inspired his novel "Brave New World"

Anhydrite occurred in three seams the Upper, Main, and Lower anhydrite seams, the Main (worked) seam consisting of 15-20 ft. of massive anhydrite averaging 90 per cent. purity. It formed an essential raw material for the chemical works in its manufacture of sulphuric acid and ammonium sulphate fertiliser.

In 1983, NIREX, the Nuclear Industry Radioactive Waste Executive, announced a proposal to use disused mine as a site for the disposal of intermediate level nuclear waste. There was huge public resistance since, despite the site's geological suitability, much of the mine's 11 million cubic metres of potential storage space lies under the town of Billingham. Although plans for nuclear storage were dropped in 1985, a proposal in 2007 by a private waste management company to re-open the mines for "use as a long-term disposal facility for low hazard waste" met with similar opposition.

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