The material-receiving end, or tail piece assembly of an endless belt conveyor in a mining installation is constructed so as to be self-cleaning in the sense that the normal spillage of the mined material such as coal on to the mine floor adjacent the tail piece is reduced or avoided, thereby eliminating the need to remove spilled material and eliminating the safety hazard inherent in such removal. This object is accomplished by automatically collecting, within the tail piece assembly, the material which normally spills off the upper belt run and conveying the collected material back to the upper run. In the preferred construction the tail piece assembly includes an enclosure surrounding the tail roller of the conveyor, water sprays for forming a slurry of the spilled material and a slurry pump for pumping the slurry to the upper belt run. Preferably the material spilling from the upper run is guided into contact with the tail roller to be reduced in size so that the particle will be readily pumpable in slurry form.