Gold Stamp Mill and construction waste crusher

A stamp mill (or stamp battery or stamping mill) is a type of mill machine that crushes material by pounding rather than grinding, either for further processing or for extraction of metallic ores. Breaking material down is a type of unit operation.

A gold stamp mill consists of a set of heavy steel (iron-shod wood in some cases) stamps, loosely held vertically in a frame, in which the stamps can slide up and down. They are lifted by cams on a horizontal rotating shaft. On modern mills, the cam is arranged to lift the stamp from the side, so that it causes the stamp to rotate. This evens the wear on the shoe at the foot of the stamp. As the cam moves from under the stamp, the stamp falls onto the ore below, crushing the rock, and the lifting process is repeated at the next pass of the cam. Each one frame and stamp set is sometimes called a "battery" or, confusingly, a "stamp" and mills are sometimes categorised by how many stamps they have, i.e. a "10 stamp mill" has 10 sets. They usually are arranged linearly, but when a mill is enlarged, a new line of them may be constructed rather than extending the line. Abandoned mill sites (as documented by industrial archaeologists) will usually have linear rows of foundation sets as their most prominent visible feature as the overall apparatus can exceed 20 feet in height, requiring large foundations. Stamps are usually arranged in sets of five.

Some ore processing applications used large quantities of water so some stamp mills are located near natural or artificial bodies of water. For example, the Redridge Steel Dam was built to supply stamp mills with process water.

Construction waste recycling

When structures made of concrete are demolished or renovated, concrete recycling is an increasingly common method of utilizing the rubble. Concrete was once routinely trucked to landfills for disposal,but recycling has a number of benefits that have made it a more attractive option in this age of greater environmental awareness, more environmental laws, and the desire to keep construction costs down.

A nearly inert material, concrete is suitable as a medium for recycling waste and industrial byproducts. Fly ash, slag and silica fume are used in making concrete which helps reduce embodied energy, carbon footprint and quantity of landfill materials. The process of making cement also uses waste materials. Tires have high energy content and can supplement coal as fuel in the kiln. Industrial byproducts such as ash from coal combustion, fly ash from power stations as well as mill scale and foundry sand from steel casting provide the silica, calcium, alumina and iron needed for making cement. Even kiln dust, a solid waste generated by cement manufacturing, is often recycled back into the kiln as a raw material. Old concrete that has reached the end of its service life can be recycled and reused as granular fill for road beds.