Upon arrival at the mill, the cane is weighed and processed at automated cane receiving stations. The name of the producing farm and the weight of each cane bin is automatically recorded.

The cane is then tipped onto a carrier which transports it to a shredder. The shredder chops and shreds the cane into fubrious material.

Pairs of rollers feed the cane through a series of mills. Each mill consists of three large rollers arranged in a triangular formation. This process separates the sugar juice from the fibrous material, called bagasse. The sugar juice is pumped away for processing into raw sugar and the bagasse is recycled.

Juice extracted from the crushing mills contains impurities which are removed by adding lime and boiling the mixture. The lime neutralises acids and precipitates impurities which "settle out" in large containers called clarifiers. The clear sugar juice is run off the top of each clarifier.

The clear juice from the clarifiers is concentrated by evaporating most of the water from it under a vacuum in a series of connected vessels called effets or evaporators.

The syrup (about 65% sugar) is concentrated by boiling in a vacuum pan and is seeded with small sugar crystals in a process called crystallisation.
The crystals are grown to the required size by adding more syrup while boiling continues.