Zinc Valley

Zinc Valley Dir. Joe Falletta, Photography Massimo Sallusti. Northern Italian foothills w/ mountains beyond. Steep valley, Val Seriana, w/ houses and small villages. Men going to & from work in zinc mine, walk up road carrying lights, up steep path; rail ore cart. Light lamp & enter tunnel & walk down steps cut into rock, to face & put on masks & pick up drills & begin working. Men pushing carts of ore. 08:14:40 View out of tunnel w/ ore carts pulled by small engine around hillside to dump into cable cars & to bottom of valley; POV along aerial cables & dumped into processor shaking out zinc. Women hand picking from conveyor belt. Crusher & large drums turning. Slurry w/ paddles & mud removed to another plant for extraction of zinc. 08:16:59 Mud into truck & hauled down gravel road past houses under construction in village. Arriving at large electrolytic smelting plant & stock piled until plant construction is finished. Men working in yard. Interior of plant built w/ Marshall Plant funds & equipped w/ American & European machinery. Welding, installing Nicholas furnace. Laborers. 08:18:48 Men installing large machinery w/ chain hoist; lathes turning, unloading crates w/ valves. Large tumbler installed. Concrete vats finished; smaller tanks w/ aluminum sheets being installed for zinc electrolytic extraction. Power plant installation; electricians working. Chemical laboratory & equipment unpacked. 08:20:53 Men installing wooden beams; end of work shift & workers leaving on foot & bicycle. Man on motorcycle arrives at apartment building & greeted by kids. LS of valley. The End. Post-WWII Economics; Rebuilding Europe; European Mining Industry; Post-WW2; 1940s; 1950s;