(33) Operational Dudley's 2-Stamper Battery, Waratah, Tasmania

Dudley’s 2-Stamper Mill

Mt. Bischoff Mine

Waratah, Tasmania

April 14, 2014

We left Launceston for Queenstown. There were several remnants of stamper batteries in Waratah. There was a 2-stamper at Dudley’s Mill at the Mt. Bischoff Mine that was constructed back in the 1950’s and was moved from its original site not far from Waratah to the new location.

Before we show the present location and conditions we will take you back to its original location on Mt Bischoff where it was used to process tin bearing ores for the local mines in Mt Bischoff. The following is a grouping of pictures that show the process that was used to relocate the building, as it was back in the 1950’s, to the town of Waratah. The first picture below shows the shed as it was found at Mt Bischoff.

The next picture shows everything including the ore pile was meticulously assembled and moved to make sure that it would be in the same position when it reached Waratah.

Pains were taken to make sure that everything was properly marked and the process would be preserved. A good example is the self feeder that he made form a 44 gallon barrel below.

The stamper battery had to be completely disassembled and refurbished. 

The slurry pump was an important part of the milling process. It would take a suction of the mixture of ground ore and water and pump it over to the shaker table. This saved the millman time and a lot of work to get the concentrates over to the shaker table so the tin cold be separated.

You probably cannot read the fine print, but the pictures are worth a thousand words. They actually moved the entire shed over to Waratah in pieces and reassembled it. They built a house around the outside of the shed and when the building had been completed it looked exactly like the original mill.

This is its new home under a modern building. Everything in the building is as it was when they moved it to it present location, even the clothing.

 

Riverside Battery made the mill and there was also a nice feeder that was very similar to the Hendy feeders in the States. There was no sluice table since the material was pumped from the collection pan directly to the shaker table and all of the work of processing the material was completed at the shaker.

 

The slurry pump (below) is the picture on the left. Everything is there, but the rubber plunger, which has rotted away. On the right the millman developed a 44 gallon ore hopper that would let material into the feeder when the level got low. These miners worked with what they had and made it work.

 The 44 gallon drum has been clearned up and is back in running conditin once again.

There were stamp mill parts all over town as demonstrated by the pictures below: