Drying the sludge

The sludge is dried in these huge shelves
The fine powder that results is poured into storage piles

Colors of the Sludge

The ore is mixed with chemicals and the gold and copper are extracted
The mixing trays are thick with 'mud' and it is here that the gold and copper is separated.
The metal here has to be separated with chemicals as its in the rock.

Ore Into the Processing Plant at Xstrada

The ore comes to the processing plant on huge rollers.
The Stock pile is where the ore is stored until it is processed.
The stockpile holds sufficient ore for 6 days processing.

The Huge Trucks

The Ore is transported in huge trucks.
Many of the truck drivers are women.
These huge trucks cart the ore to the crusher

Driving into Xstrada Mine Open Cut

From the Lookout Point, we were driven down into the bottom of the Open Cut Mine.
The colors of the ground below the surface were beautiful.
Its the earth sliced down and seeing the rock that is being mined is amazing.
The ore is transported in huge trucks to the crushing Mill.
Here are the colors of the Underground

Xstrada Mine at Cloncurry

The tour of Xstrada Mine at Cloncurry was spectacular.
The colors of the desert were very beautiful with the bright greens after the rains contrasting with the browns and greys of the mining.
We were taken by bus to the Viewing area of the mine.
From there we drove down to the bottom of the open pit and back up to the top.
It was amazing seeing how the huge diggers get the ore and send it to the belt where it gets crushed and sent to the processing plant.
This shows the first part of the operation...the transporting of the ore from the mine to the pile.
The ore is processed for gold and copper.