The Robey Trust and Gravity Mining host informative events
IRTE Cornwall Chairman Jack Ayland (holding plaque) with members and guests The Robey Trust in Dorset
November was a busy month for IRTE in the West Country with members enjoying two separate visits to sites in Cornwall.
IRTE Cornwall members first visited The Robey Trust at The Works, Tavistock in Devon, where Company Secretary Jack Ayland gave a very informative presentation on the history of Robey steam engines – both their static industrial engines and those self-powered, including road rollers and other construction machines.
Given that IRTE members' interests are predominately in road transport, Jack tailored the visit and presentation around steam rollers and road transport versions of Robey engines, even firing up a steam roller and traction engine to the group’s obvious delight.
The Works houses a number of working steam engines and all may be viewed at close hand – a visit is highly recommended to any IRTE group or individual who has an interest in steam engines. The Works is open to the public on Thursdays and Saturdays along with other specific events throughout the year, details of which may be found on the Robey Trust website.
Also in November, Cornwall IRTE Members visited Gravity Mining at Redruth, Cornwall, which specialises in the production of multi-gravity machines.
The machines are effectively a method of fine gravity separation which generates valuable tin, tungsten, chromite, gold and more from the 'tailings' of mine waste ore. The gravity mining machines then take the waste ore and recover the fine, final metals by separating them from the ore samples at a rate of three to four tonnes per hour.
Each machine recovers as much as 10% of fine metals which would otherwise have gone to waste. The machines run reliably 24 hours per day and are in great demand worldwide because of their effectiveness in recovering the final material for little cost.
IRTE Cornwall members heard how the Redruth-based family business construct a machine from locally-sourced fabricators and components every three to four days, shipping them both in the UK and across the world, with some sites running as many as twelve at the same time.