Re: Tipples or Bins, Good Question ?

At hardrock mines the ore was hoisted up the shaft or trammed out the portal to the Ore Bin where it would be dumped on a grizzly (a series of steel bars or rails spaced 4” to a foot apart). The smaller chunks would fall through into the bin and the larger pieces would be subjected to a series of “love taps” from a 16 lb. hammer until they broke into pieces small enough to fit through the grizzly. Often an Ore House (yes, I said “ore”) was built on top of the bin. The ore would be dumped into a chute or onto a platform where the ore and waste (country rock, leaverite, crapadyrite) would be separated by hand. The ore went to the bin, the waste to the dump.
This brings up two more terms often confused, “waste dump” and “tailings pile” or “tailings pond”. Waste rock (valueless) forms the large piles of rock found around the mine shaft or the adit (tunnel). Tailings piles or ponds are found at mill sites.
Just my two bits worth.
Sam Bass
Ex-hardrock miner