The Harewood mine first opened in 1875, on the coal outcropping at the surface of Harewood Ridge. A small surface area was worked until 1894 when operations were suspended. The mine was again opened in 1902, when a shaft was sunk to the dip of the old workings. Operations were suspended in 1904.

In August of 1917, the tunnel driven by early operators was cleared and extended. About 300 metres from the original workings coal averaging 0.6 to 3.7 metres in thickness was encountered. The coal is part of the Wellington seam in the Early Campanian Northfield Member within the Upper Cretaceous Nanaimo Group, Extension Formation. The coal is of high volatile bituminous rank and occurs within a series of faulted carbonaceous shales.

A proximate analysis of coal from the Harewood mine is as follows (*Geological Survey of Canada, Memoir 51, page 99):

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Moisture Volatile Fixed Ash Sulphur Fuel B.T.U.

Combustible Carbon Ratio

1.58 33.84 52.17 11.85 0.56 1.53 12238

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Between 1917 and 1923, the Harewood Colliery produced 769,500 tonnes of coal. Operations were abandoned in January of 1923. No production records are available prior to 1917.

The Furnace Portal mine, situated on Harewood Ridge, was developed in 1945 to recover some coal left in the immediate vicinity of the old Furnace Portal airway to the Harewood mine. The area was originally worked in 1864 but no records or plans are available. The mine operated between 1945 and 1951 producing about 4700 tonnes of coal. The Furnace Portal mine was mined out and production ceased in March, 1951. The area was mined as the Biggs in 1951.