PVC pipes run through this processing building, still carrying water audible inside the hall, decades after the plant shut down at Ashio Copper Mine. Corrugated iron clads the walls.

Refinery

Provenance

Camera: NIKON D810
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Settings: 14mm · f/9.0 · 1/200 · ISO 100
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

PVC pipes run through this processing building, still carrying water audible inside the hall, decades after the plant shut down. Corrugated iron clads the walls. Window frames hang open to the mountain air.

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 5 to 10 business days (unframed). Shipped in protective packaging with edition certificate, paper-stock reference and a printed care guide.

See certificate sample →

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Ships within 10 business days · signed & numbered

In situ

Refinery at Ashio Copper Mine, black-framed print displayed in situ on a wall.

Refinery at Ashio Copper Mine, raw timber-framed print displayed in situ on a wall.

Refinery at Ashio Copper Mine, glass print displayed in situ on a wall.

01 PROVENANCE

Print datasheet

Title: Refinery
Series: Ashio Copper Mine
Catalogue: ACM-020
Process: Giclée
Captured: 7 May 2016
Camera: NIKON D810
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture: f/9.0
Shutter: 1/200 s
ISO: 100
Focal length: 14 mm
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm
Paper size: 297 × 210 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

PVC pipes run through this processing building at Ashio Copper Mine, still carrying water audible inside the hall decades after the plant shut down. Corrugated iron clads the walls and heavy structural steelwork frames the roof above. Window frames hang open to the mountain air.

Tsudō was an ore-dressing plant: crushing, ball-mill pulverisation, froth flotation, concentrate output. It sat upstream of the smelter and downstream of the mine shaft, with the smelting done at the Honzan Smelter. The consolidated plant ran from 1922 until the Excavation Department closed in 1973, and this building shut at the same time. Some of the higher-value plant has been disturbed in the years since; the structural elements and the heavier vessels are essentially as they were left.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

PVC pipes run through this processing building, still carrying water audible inside the hall, decades after the plant shut down.

Brett Patman

The series

Ashio Copper Mine

2016 · 25 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.