Coal produced by mining operations at the Brazeau Collieries was crushed into small pieces, and then fed into a large storage bin building. Storing a certain volume of crushed coal helped balance the processes of initial coal production, vs. processing into finished briquettes. The storage bin had a capacity of hundreds of tons of crushed coal, but it could be filled completely to capacity in just over 3 hours of operation. Crushed coal was released from storage through a series of 14 gravity-fed dump gates. Each gate had a manual lever that could be raised or lowered to regulate the volume of coal flowing by conveyor belt into the briquette production process.
Leveraged Acquisition, Nordegg
Royce Howland Photography 