THE PRIMARY CONCENTRATOR
AND DRYER

The ore is automatically dumped
from the tramline buckets into the hop-
per of the mill’s primary concentrator.
Here a series of screens and an impact
crusher separate the waste rock which
is transported to the tailings pile. The
remaining ore, which contains most of
the free asbestos fibre, is subjected
to further screenings where the
“throughs” are efficiently separated
from the “overs”.

The “throughs” are delivered to two
large eighty inch diameter sixty foot
long rotary kiln dryers which, by the
application of intense heat, reduce the
moisture content of the ore ta a
maximum of three percent.

On leaving the dryer the dried ore is
carried by the conveyor to the dry rock
storage building. This ore is now re-
garded as mill feed.

The “overs” are then further
screened. The “throughs” from these
secondary screenings are dispatched
by conveyor to the dry rock storage
building via the dryer. The screened
“overs” are then subjected to further
impaction by a Hazemag Crusher.
After this impaction the “fines” are
screened out and transported to the dry
rock storage building, while the remain-
ing barren rock, or waste, which
amounts to approximately thirty per-
cent of the ore delivered, is conveyed
to the tailings pile.

THE DRY ROCK STORAGE
BUILDING

On leaving the dryer building the ore
is conveyed to the dry rock building
which is capable of storing 40,000 tons
of mill feed. An elevated shuttle belt
conveyor within the building distributes

the ore into predetermined piles, ac-
cording to grade. Thus, for production
purposes, mill feed can be “blended”
as required. A large five cubic yard
Payloader moves the blended ore to
the conveyor system that supplies the
mill.