Large Scale Central

Mine Operations, er, Modelling, er Structures, um.... Ok, QUESTI

General Discussion
#1

I’m posting this here as I’m not sure whether this is more an operations, structures, or modelling question…

In the formation of the “Minol Mine” and associated support operations, it’s been determined that the Slate Creek will have a crusher/concentrator for the ore coming from the now heavily researched and discussed “Minol Mine” (again… all titles are simply placeholders for the real things…) Ore from the mine will go to the crusher/concentrator, and thence to the pier for departure by ship.

What remains is the desigining of some of the facilities.

I’ve done extensive surfing/searching on outfits like the Gilpin tram, and other mine sites looking for photos of this sort of thing… and I’ve run into something of a quandary. Most of the crushing plants were built to operate by gravity… meaning that the ore was dumped in at the top, and descended through a series of chutes and bins as the crushing, classifying, and sorting process was carried out. On the Slate Creek, I don’t have a lot of space for a multilevel structure, and am hoping to get in a plant that works all on one level, with a minimum need for an elevated dumping mechanism. The trains are already at chest height and the ceiling is not particularly high!

So… from the various research I’ve done, it appears that in some locations, there were plants of this type that operated in one story buildings, or one story with elevated sections, etc. Can anyone point me to photos of this sort of operation, and better, describe how this kind of plant operated, since the usual gravity progression obviously wouldn’t work here?

I’ve talked over the proposed operating structure of the line with a noted Knower-Of-Knowledge, and most of what I’ve come up with checks out… I’d bet though, that someone here either has photos of a prototype or has built something similar to what I’m talking about… so I’m asking again here.

While we’re at it … how do we get the ore INTO the narrow gauge cars at the mine, assuming the mine portal is basically at ground level, or maybe at the level of the tops of the cars…?

Matthew (OV)

#2

Can’t help you directly with a crushing facility, but the coal cleaning/grading plant at Mt. Union was essentially one (very tall) story elevated just high enough over the rails so that the cleaned coal could be dropped down into the waiting standard gauge hoppers. Coal from the mines was dumped into a large covered pit and carried up via conveyor belts. What gravity would do in a gravity mill, conveyors can do in any other environment. Head out to your local rock quarry and look at how the rock crushers there operate. That’ll give you some ideas.

As for getting the ore from a ground-level mine into the waiting cars, long elevated trestles. Most mines on the EBT were slope or drift mines, so almost all the entrances were ground level. Cables, mules, or mine engines would pull the carts out of the mine up to the tipple where they’d be dumped into the hopper cars waiting below. E-mail me if you want more info.

Later,

K