In this work, the nature of the deposit found inside an industrial cooling circuit (which consists of a mixture of different iron containing phases) has been characterized in detail by 57 Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy. Electron Paramagnetic Resonance spectroscopy was also used to check for the presence of other metals, mainly manganese and copper, detected by the Inductive Coupled Plasma method. We conclude that the deposit contains a large amount of Fe(III), probably consisiting of ferrihydrite nanoparticles and of goethite, either bulk or as large particles. It also contains traces of an Fe(II) species (about 3%), probably adsorbed on the iron oxides. Mn(II) and traces of Cu(II) are also present.