Mining the Ore
The micaceous haematite ore occurs in near-vertical fissures or lodes, ranging from a few inches to a few feet wide. Generally though, the productive lodes were about a foot wide. Shallow pits were dug to prove the locations of the lodes. Once found, adits were driven into the hillside following the lode. The ore is very soft and the miners would first rake out all the material in sight from the lode above them, generally for two metres or so -a method known as 'hulklng'. This was the highest grade of ore. Then vertical holes would be drilled, filled with dynamite, and blasted. This would then expose the valuable ore once again. The rock blasted out contained small quantities of low grade ore, and required crushing. The area of extraction was known as a stope, and the method of drilling and blasting in an upward direction termed overhand stoping.
This is the typical mining method employed in the mines of the Wray valley. It is simple, and relatively cheap, as there are no pumping costs involved; the groundwater simply flows out of the mine through the adits. Removal of the ore from the mine required nothing more sophisticated than hand-powered trams on light 18" gauge railway track.