Here was probably located a wind furnace that allowed for the initial treatment of minerals extracted from the Saint-Jean and Balme mines in Ollomont. Thus, in 1909, the furnace was described by the Mining Service Review:
“The minerals, without prior roasting, are melted in a rectangular wind furnace, with dimensions at the nozzles of 1.10 m x 2.40 m, fully equipped with a water jacket, Water Jacket, of the most modern type, with 16 nozzles and an external forehearth.
This furnace is equipped with a bottom plate, held in place by six screw poles resting on a cart, which makes its removal for unloading easy, which is also greatly facilitated by a small displacement that can be applied to the two inclined walls of the lower part of the furnace. Air is blown through a Root blower (PH Roots of Connersville, USA) with a capacity of 300 m3 of air per minute, at a pressure of about ⅒ of an atmosphere, driven directly by a 100 horsepower electric motor.
The said furnace, with raw minerals and thus blown, can have a capacity of about 150 tons per day of melting bed, or about 120 tons of ore.”
