The Depositing Floors
Owing to the refractory character of blue ground fresh from the mines, it has to be exposed to atmospheric influences before it will pulverise under the action of water and mechanical treatment.
From the surface-boxes, into which the blue ground is tipped when it reaches the top of the main shaft, it is transferred to side-tipping trucks and sent to the depositing floors by means of endless wire-rope haulage. The speed of the haulage varies from 2\ to 4 miles per hour. The trucks are counted automatically as they are sent to the floor by a reciprocating enginecounter placed on a frame near the tramline.
The depositing floors are prepared by removing the bush and grass from a fairly level piece of ground ; this ground is then rolled smooth and hard. The floors extend over many square miles of .country and 46
