petemonkhouse
Active member
Another of the Val Trompia great mines, a couple of km further up the valley from Torgola. This was an Iron Carbonate mine, with crushing, floatation seperation and roasting ovens in the impressive processing works, with massive ore hoppers for the Iron oxide. It's a show mine, and not bad value - 12 euros for a couple of uours and about 3 km underground. The entrance adit is a 1936 excavation to reach existing workings, dating back to the early 1800s. Nice as it is, Torgola is massively more interesting as all the equipment is still in situ and Alfredo is massively prettier!
Entrance to the 1936 adit, and a row of tipper trucks and electric locomotive
1940's rock drill, with photos taken then at this location
The guide wouldn't let me go down here
The blue pipe is dust suppression water - interestingly the pressure gauge still shows about 4 bar
Looking down one of the roasting ovens. Charcoal and then coke was used to start the continuous process, but it was exothermic so very little fuel was needed to maintain it. Now part of an adventure circuit.....
A couple of tired looking compressors!
Entrance to the 1936 adit, and a row of tipper trucks and electric locomotive
1940's rock drill, with photos taken then at this location
The guide wouldn't let me go down here
The blue pipe is dust suppression water - interestingly the pressure gauge still shows about 4 bar
Looking down one of the roasting ovens. Charcoal and then coke was used to start the continuous process, but it was exothermic so very little fuel was needed to maintain it. Now part of an adventure circuit.....
A couple of tired looking compressors!
