Raw Material Conveyors

Provenance

Camera: NIKON D810
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Settings: 14mm · f/9.0 · 0.4s · ISO 100
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

The conveyor system at the head of the processing plant, where ore arrived from outside. Much of the concrete floor in this section had collapsed; the upper level wasn't safely accessible. Steel conveyor frames extend toward it.

Edition

Open edition

Open edition
Printed to order, no fixed quantity. Each print is hand-signed by the photographer.

Limited edition
A fixed number of prints exist. Once sold, the edition closes permanently. Each print is individually numbered and signed.

$100.00 AUD

Colour

Signed, numbered, with COA. Made to order in 10 to 20 business days (framed). Shipped in protective packaging with edition certificate, paper-stock reference and a printed care guide.

See certificate sample →

Shipping Free shipping over $250. Ships worldwide, rates calculated at checkout.

Returns Damaged in transit? We replace it. Full policy →

Ships within 10 business days · signed & numbered

In situ

01 PROVENANCE

Print datasheet

Title: Raw Material Conveyors
Series: Ashio Copper Mine
Catalogue: ACM-019
Process: Giclée
Captured: 7 May 2016
Camera: NIKON D810
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture: f/9.0
Shutter: 0.4s s
ISO: 100
Focal length: 14 mm
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm
Paper size: 290 × 200 mm
Location: Ashio, Tochigi, Japan
Authenticity: C2PA verified provenance →
Recognised by: Highly Commended in Multimedia at the 2016 National Trust of Australia (NSW) Heritage Awards

02 LOCATION

Ashio, Tochigi, Japan

Map · Mapbox · OpenStreetMap

03 THE STORY

About this print

A bank of raw-material conveyors at Ashio Copper Mine runs from the receiving area down toward the crushing and milling lines. Each conveyor is a belt running over fixed idlers inside a steel-clad housing, the housings stacked one above the other along the inside wall of the processing building. The belts are rubber, scored from years of carrying ore over them. The housings are painted in a pale industrial green, faded back to bare metal at the seams. Cabling and pneumatic lines run alongside the conveyors, the bracket fixings still bolted to the building's structural steel. The whole assembly is silent.

The raw-material conveyors at Ashio carried crushed ore from the mine head and the receiving bins down to the ball mills for grinding. The system ran continuously through the working shifts, with the belts moving the ore in measured doses against the milling capacity below. Ashio's processing plant operated from the Furukawa modernisation of 1877 through to the Excavation Department's closure in 1973. The conveyors moved ore through the works across that entire span, with belts replaced every few years and the steel housings rebuilt as the structures weathered. The lines stopped on the day the mine did and have not moved since.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

Crushed limestone and raw ore spill across the floor of the processing hall. Conveyor belt frames line the left side, their rubber long since split and sagging. Steel gantries and cross-bracing fill the upper volume of the shed. Corrugated iron cladding hangs open in places, letting green foliage press against the structure. Narrow-gauge rail tracks run through the debris. The air looks thick with mineral dust and damp.

Brett Patman

The series

Ashio Copper Mine

2016 · 24 photographs

Furukawa Ichibei acquired the Ashio mine in 1877 with financial backing from Shibusawa Eiichi. By 1922 the operation had consolidated its three separate ore-processing plants into one. The Tsudō Ore-Dressing Plant, on the Watarase River, was held up at home and abroad as a model facility for metal mines.

View all in this series →

05 SIZE GUIDE

Print sizes

The anatomy view shows what this finish is as a physical object: paper margin, mat band, frame depth, acrylic profile. The comparison strip shows how each size sits relative to the others at true scale. Click a size or a finish to update both.