To improve productivity and to reduce product costs by directly returning cast iron chips not to a steel mill but to a foundry when carrying out recycling of turnings.

The cast iron chips are sent to an upstream side of a transverse drum rotating at a certain inclination angle, a drum interior is formed into a hot air passage, and in a process of the turnings passing through the drum interior from the upstream side to a downstream side, about 100% of moisture and 60-80% of oil contents attached to the turnings are removed. Spiral fins are attached to a lengthwise wall surface in the transverse drum, suitable intervals between adjacent fins are partitioned by shuttering boards, and a composition is comprised wherein the cast iron chips are transferred while being lifted to a certain height and dropped in a drum internal space following rotation of the drum.