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From: Paul Ellison <[log in to unmask]> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------- Hmm, interesting - I would be interested to take a look around... but in reply to your question: There are several texts (sorry, no titles, I only saw these in passing) describing the trade in and use of lodestone by Norse (and presumably other) mariners during the first millenium - including contemporaty texts. It is possible that you might find something of use there. Lodestone was considered a great treasure at that time - having a 'love of iron' - and therefore being an enchantment beyond Magic (you can't magic iron, remember). Lodestone was used directly in early magnetic compasses for preference, as the soft iron (and poorly made steel)of the time a: didn't hold much of a magnetic field and b: rusted away when wet - magnetite, of course, suffering little from either problem. Medieval compasses often had a brass or copper pointer (needle)above the rose, and a lodestone below - hence "magnetising the needle." By Tudor times, steel-needle compasses were becoming fairly common. For your pleasure, some Lore... 'Massive' _magnetic_ magnetite (it doesn't all hold a field) was used during the middle-ages (generally in jewellery) as an amulet to ward off the evil-eye and to prevent 'being amazed' (led astray by Faeries). My late step-father (a collier) told me that: At one time, several Scottish collieries had a lodestone close to the man-shaft, which was touched by each man before going down the pit. A lodestone is said to keep rheumatism at bay. This is backed by the claims of people who have tried this treatment for arthritis. Anyone who walks into a computer room with a lodestone will find themselves much poorer (and possibly lynched)- after damaging monitors and magnetic media. <grin> Magnet Cove (somewhere in the USA) is (or was) marked on shipping charts as a navigational hazard. A 200kg (natural) lodestone was used to separate (non-magnetised) magnetite from crushed rock (a schistose material) for use as iron ore during the early 1900's. It was more recently pressed to service retrieving steel cans from domestic waste! (Norway, I think). Cheers, Paul. ---------- > From: [log in to unmask] > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Lodestone Mining > Date: 05 June 2000 14:11 > > A group os us in South Devon have found a small, disused mine that used to provide lodestone or magnetite for magnetising compass needles, or for use directly to find magnetic north. > > Can anyone point us to sources of information on the mining and use of this mineral? > > John Riddell > %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%