The Mine Plant

This place was totally unexpected when I visited friends in the country. I knew the town had a mining history, but in the town itself there were no remains left. In the hills behind the town I found this massive mine treatment plant in ruins. It was like the place had been half demolished and then left to rot. The place smelled quite badly of chemicals, and I suspect the reason nothing grows there is because the ground is full of arsenic and heavy metals.

Overview of the mine plant. Note the hole on the ground middle left.

This tunnel goes under most of the plant, but it is full of stinky and probably poisonous water

Remains of something are scattered all around

What was this? It could have been the floor of a factory, it's hard to tell. The walls look really weird

5 settling / storage tanks?

Interior of a settling tank, similar to those used sewage treatment works

Looking back down from the base of the storage tanks

Getting closer to the storage tanks, I noticed a fallen chimney at left

Looks like someone tore this place apart

The remains of a large chimney stack

Um, I don't think that stuff could be healthy

Storage tank

Local teenagers have been known to climb all the way up there

What the hell is this? Some sort of machinery

Up behind the tanks one can see that they have been smashed open

Interior of the tank shows gravel or ore stored in them

Now this was scary stuff. Green gravel. It is in fact arsenic treated. I found out later that arsenic from this plant seeps into the local river and is detectable over 100 kilometers away.

The base of the chimney stack

Massive ruins, like the place was bombed into oblivion

On top of the hill is this loading hopper

The hopper at the top of the hill

Arty shot of the stairs up the hill

A house had been hauled onto the site and dumped

The house, tanks and remains of a toilet block in the foreground

Panorama of the area.