Gordon Lake mine
| Location | |
|---|---|
  Gordon Lake Mine Location near Werner Lake, Ontario | |
| Location | near Werner Lake, Ontario |
| Province | Ontario |
| Country | Canada |
| Coordinates | 50°29′08″N 94°20′49″W / 50.4855°N 94.3469°W |
| Production | |
| Products | PRIMARY: Copper, Nickel SECONDARY: Gold, Palladium, Platinum, Silver |
| History | |
| Opened | 1957 |
| Active | 1942 - 1969 |
| Closed | 1972 |
| Owner | |
| Company | Ovintiv |
Gordon Lake Mine was an underground copper mine near Werner Lake in the Kenora District of Ontario Canada.
It was in full operation from 1957 to 1969. Some metals were produced up until 1972 as a result of the site clean up operations.
Location[edit]
The mine is located 55 miles northwest of Kenora[1] close to the Ontario-Manitoba provincial boundary.[2] It is located above four underground bodies of ore and the quartz vein known as the Onaping Formation.[1][3]
Discovery and exploration[edit]
H. Byberg and A. Vanderbrink first discovered nickel and copper minerals at the site in 1942.[1]
The site was surveyed and subject to diamond drilling by staff from Noranda Mines, Rexora Mining Corporation Ltd, and Inco and Falconbridge Nickel Mines Ltd between 1942 and 1945.[4]
Underground work was undertaken by Quebec Nickel Corporation between 1952 and 1954 which produced a 260 foot deep shaft.[4][5]
Between 1955 and 1958 Quebec Nickel Corporation and Eastern Smelting and Refining Company Limited merged to become Eastern Mining and Smelting Corp which sank a second shaft to 1,297 feet in depth, creating six levels.[4] The minerals mined composed of chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite, and pentlandite.[6][7]
Between 1959 and 1962, Eastern Mining and Smelting Corp became Nickel Mining and Smelting Corp and lowered the second shaft to 1,683 feet deep, adding 3 more levels and added a 750-ton-per-day concentrator.[4]
Production[edit]
A mill was built on site between 1962 and 1973 which processed 1,587,146 tons of ore.[5] That ore produced 14 million pounds of copper, 26.7 million pounds of nickel and unknown smaller quantities of platinum and palladium.[5]
Between 1963 and 1966, Nickel Mining and Smelting became Metal Mines Limited and continued drilling.[4]
In 1967-68 Consolidated Canadian Faraday Limited took over Metal Mines, continued drilling and increased the concentrator capacity to 1200 tons-per-day.[4]
Final years[edit]
Between 1969 there was modest production, not from mining, but from clean up operations.[1] The site was rehabilitated in 1994.[4]
The site was owned by EWL Management Limited until 2022, when EWL merged with its parent company Ovintiv Canada ULC.[8][9]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d Cornwall, H. R. (1966). Nickel Deposits of North America. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 1223. Geology, resources, and reserves of nickel sulfide and nickeliferous laterite deposits in 7 Provinces of Canada and 15 States of the United States (PDF). United States Geological Survey. p. 25. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-01-22. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Parker, J. R. (1988). Geology of Nickel-Copper-Chromite Deposits and Cobalt-Copper Deposits at Werner–Rex–Bug Lakes, English River Subprovince, Northwestern Ontario. Government of Ontario.
- ^ A Field Guide to the Geology of Sudbury, Ontario (PDF). Government of Ontario. 2009. p. 137. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-12-09. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Ontario Mineral Inventory Record MDI52L07NW00004: Gordon Lake Mine, Werner Lake-Gordon Lake Mine". www.geologyontario.mndm.gov.on.ca. Archived from the original on 2022-01-22. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
- ^ a b c Harper, Gerald (22 March 2011). "Werner Lake Mineral Belt Properties Kenora Mining Division, Ontario" (PDF). Global Cobalt Corporation. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 January 2022. Retrieved 22 January 2022.
- ^ "Gordon Lake Gold Mine In Ontario, Canada". The Diggings. Archived from the original on 2022-01-22. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
- ^ "Cobalt makes an appearance in northwestern Ontario". Northern Ontario Business. 6 October 2010. Archived from the original on 2022-01-22. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
- ^ "EWL Legacy Mine Properties Perpetual Management Strategy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-01-05.
- ^ "Regulatory Action – Ovintiv Canada ULC". Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. 2022-05-19. Archived from the original on 2022-06-23. Retrieved 2022-06-23.