Explore the history of Mining in Ontario and Mining in Canada through interesting articles online.
Mining in Ontario
Below are a few articles outlining the big business of mining in Ontario including information about Canada's Silver town, Cobalt
Mining in Cobalt
Cobalt, Ontario, played an important role in the evolution of the mining and financial industries in Canada. Silver was discovered in the area in the summer of 1903.
Geologic History of Cobalt
On August 7, 1903, two railroad workers –J.H. McKinley and Ernest Darragh –found pliable, silvery flakes of metal on the shores of Long Lake. The town of Cobalt came into being almost overnight.
Stories from Cobalt
A few stories from the Cobalt mining camp.
Historic Ontario Mines
Historic Ontario Mines include the Madoc fluorite mine and the Canadian talc mine.
Mining in Ontario
Mining is an important industry in Ontario, employing over 100,000 people, directly and indirectly, and producing about $10-billion worth of minerals annually.
Mining in Canada
Below are a few articles from the Rockhound Canada and Rocks and Minerals of Canada magazines. The articles were all printed in the 70s or the 80s and are not up-to-date, however they are all interesting reads.
From The Canadian Rockhound magazine
Of Moles and Men (February 1975)
Miners are a breed apart from other men, many preferring to work underground even when offered another job on the surface.
Dry Panning (August 1978)
The lack of water in many parts of Australia, makes dry panning the only feasible way to check beds for the precious yellow metal.
World History of Gold (August 1979)
Even before the dawn of recorded time gold has gripped mankind’s heart and soul in an enduring and passionate embrace.
History in the Making (August 1980)
On the banks of the St. Lawrence, more than 400 years ago, the French explorer Jacques Cartier heard Indians tell of gold and precious stones that abounded in this new world.
Age-Old Techniques of the Goldsmith (February 1980)
When Michael Ayrton, the painter, and the goldsmith, John Donald, succeeded in reproducing the legendary golden honey-comb of Dedalus, they were asserting a truth about the past which was new to many people.
The Mining History of the Sudbury Area (Spring 1983)
August 1883, Thomas Flanagan, a blacksmith on the Canadian Pacific Railway, noticed a rust coloured patch of rock while working with a crew in a recently blasted rock cut north-west of present-day Sudbury.
From Rocks and Minerals in Canada magazine
Notes from a Prospector's Diary (May/ June 1979)
Prospector E.R. Kidd kept a most interesting diary which helps us visualize the day-to-day activities of a frontiersman of that era.
Elliot Lake (September/ October 1980)
Known in the early 1950’s as the “Uranium Capital of the World” Elliot Lake was planned and built to serve the needs of the miners employed at the uranium mines in the immediate vicinity.
Three Men Who Unlocked the West (March/April 1980)
The early western Canadian land surveys over the five decades, 1870 to 1920, were important in the orderly occupation of more than 200 million acres across Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and parts of British Columbia.
Prospecting the Prospects (January/ February, 1981)
“Compared with the thousands of acres of an oilfield, mineral deposits are smaller –only a few acres –though we might be looking in an area of millions of acres. And in minerals, you have to drill more holes.” Even then, only about one in a thousand prospects becomes a mine.
Bancroft History (circa 1900) Gold Fever (May/ June 1981)
Bancroft is the world’s major source of blue sodalite, popular with builders and jewellery craftsmen.
Silver in Canada (March/ April 1981)
Even though it may lack most of the romantic connotations associated with gold, silver has played a significant role in the drama of Canadian mining.