The first stage of smelting nickel ore - heap roasting.
Pictured is the O'Donnell roast yard, built in 1916 to replace the original Copper Cliff yard which was considered too close to populated areas. The unprocessed ore was brought here by rail from the mines several miles away. The moveable unloading bridge shown was used to convey the ore from the railway cars onto the carefully prepared bed of wood. The point of the operation was to burn as much of the sulphur in the ore as possible and thus reduce its bulk. The wood was used as kindling to ignite the sulphur.
