Processing the Ore
Ore from the mine was trammed to the top of the incline and hand sorted, the larger blocks broken with a sledgehammer. The material was then thrown across a 3/4" screen and the undersize washed down strips. These strips, akin to those used in alluvial gold and tin workings, were simply an inclined channel down which a constant flow of water was sent, followed by a series of sand collection boxes. The outflow side of each box formed a ridge which held back the waste bearing sand while the haematite flakes flowed on to the next box with the water and finally on to the settling tanks. Sand was throw back up onto the channel until no further haematite washed out. Coarse sand was sent down to the jigging box for further processing while the fine sand was waste.
Oversize material from the screen and the medium sand from the strips was sent down the chute to the stamps to be crushed in order to liberate the haematite locked in the matrix. The crushed material splashed out into a spiral classifier which carried sandy material to the top and from there on to a second set of strips; the valuable material washed straight out of the bottom and was piped into settling tanks. Washings from the jigger also went to strips to extract the any remaining haematite.
The jigging box or jigger is a simple hand powered piece of equipment consisting of a box filled with water and a smaller box suspended within it containing the ore to be washed. The inner box is suspended from a cantilevered arm and dipped in and out of the water, hence jigged.
Once the concentrate in the tanks had settled out, it was shovelled into trams and sent to the Drying Shed, where it was laid to a spade depth on the heated drying floor. The dried concentrate was raised by an elevator and dropped into a rotating sieve, both driven by the waterwheel. The finished product was packed into barrels, weighed and carried out onto the loading bay in front and to the side of the mine office, awaiting removal.