One hundred years of mining in Saskatchewan.The geography of Saskatchewan tells us this is a place of farms, forests and lakes while the geology has proven there is much more beyond what the eye sees. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Coal, potash, uranium and metallic minerals have been mainstays of the province's mining industry at distinct times over the last century. One hundred years of mining history tells us there are many surprising treasures to be found beneath Saskatchewan's surface. Potash It's hard to remember a time when Saskatchewan and potash didn't go together like bread and butter. The staggering potash reserves in this province have been known for at least 40 years but, almost unbelievably now, there were about 30 companies involved in potash exploration activities in the 1950s and 1960s. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "It really was quite an exciting time to be around the potash industry because we were just beginning to understand the high grade and size of the deposit and demand for potash fertilizer was growing rapidly," says retired mine manager John Nightingale John Nightingale was an engineer who worked on several canals in the United Kingdom. He was the a nephew of Matthew Fletcher. In 1805 he was appointed manager and engieer of the Mersey and Irwell Navigation company. . "It wasn't until the mid-1960s that the full size and scope of the potash deposit was completely known." Formed more than 350 million years ago as a massive Devonian sea evaporated, the potash deposit sits like a tilted dinner plate beneath the lower half of Saskatchewan and into North Dakota North Dakota, state in the N central United States. It is bordered by Minnesota, across the Red River of the North (E), South Dakota (S), Montana (W), and the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba (N). . The top edge of the deposit runs from west of Saskatoon Saskatoon (săskət  n`), city (1991 pop. 186,058), S central Sask., Canada, on the South Saskatchewan River. to the Manitoba border near
Rocanville and, at about 3,000-3,500 feet from the surface, is
accessible via underground mining methods. It dips to unreachable levels
farther south.
"The deposit was actually discovered by companies drilling for oil near Radville, but there it's about 7,400 feet down, which is far too deep for mining," Nightingale explains. Aside from discovery, the biggest development in the industry came when engineers found a way to sink a viable shaft through the Blairmore Formation, a 250-foot layer of porous, water-drenched sediment lying above the potash deposit. "The normal technique is to drill spiral holes and seal off the water with cement grout Grout A binding or structural agent used in construction and engineering applications. Grout is typically a mixture of hydraulic cement and water, with or without fine aggregate; however, chemical grouts are also produced. , but that didn't hold in the Blairmore Formation," Nightingale describes. "They determined the best way to go was to freeze the formation and to fortify for·ti·fy v. for·ti·fied, for·ti·fy·ing, for·ti·fies v.tr. To make strong, as: a. To strengthen and secure (a position) with fortifications. b. To reinforce by adding material. the shaft with sections of cast iron bolted together in a circle that ran the entire depth of the formation. This became known as the Blairmore Ring and it allowed the successful completion of IMC (Internet Mail Consortium, Santa Cruz, CA, www.imc.org) An industry trade association founded in 1996 by Paul Hoffman and Dave Crocker that promotes Internet e-mail standards and features. K1 in Esterhazy in 1962." Similar techniques were used to bring other mines into production in rapid succession. "There was such a demand for potash in the mid-1960s it looked like there was no end to what we could do, but demand did grow slower than production," Nightingale says. It took a while for other countries to realize potash's value even though it had been used as a fertilizer since the late 1700s and mined as early as 1861. "The demand for potash has caught up with the supply and the industry is presently planning expansion at several mines." Nightingale is currently working to capture the industry's history at the Saskatchewan Potash Interpretive Centre interpretive centre Noun a building situated at a place of interest, such as a country park or historical site, that provides information about the site by showing videos, exhibiting objects, etc. near Esterhazy's museum, a proposed facility that has gained the support of the province's three leading potash companies. Uranium "The amazing part," says Josef Spross, "was that in the early days it was the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. driving the uranium industry in Canada. In the initial phase no private company was allowed any part of nuclear or atomic production and even afterwards the U.S. was involved throughout." Of course, it was a group of scientists and military personnel working in the United States who made uranium what it is today. During the famous Manhattan Project Manhattan Project, the wartime effort to design and build the first nuclear weapons (atomic bombs). With the discovery of fission in 1939, it became clear to scientists that certain radioactive materials could be used to make a bomb of unprecented power. U.S. of the 1940s they found splitting the atom--especially uranium atoms--produced enormous amounts of energy. "They found uranium had that potential and it became a highly regulated industry, kept in a small circle of people," says Spross, a professional engineer with a long history in mining. "Since it is a material of such strategic importance, the federal government didn't allow just anyone to play around with it. Even since the end of the Cold War, and even though it is used almost exclusively as an energy source, it is still a security issue and it maintains its importance." [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Discoveries in the Northwest Territories Northwest Territories, territory (2001 pop. 37,360), 532,643 sq mi (1,379,028 sq km), NW Canada. The Northwest Territories lie W of Nunavut, N of lat. 60°N, and E of Yukon. in the 1930s led prospectors along the faulting system to uranium deposits in the Beaverlodge District on the north shore of Lake Athabasca Lake Athabasca (French: lac Athabasca, from Woods Cree aðapaskāw, "[where] there are plants one after another")[2] is located in the northwest corner of Saskatchewan and the northeast corner of Alberta between 58° and 60° N. . By the 1950s, 16 ore bodies were feeding three mills The Three Mills are former working mills on the River Lee in the East End of London, one of London’s oldest still-surviving industrial centres. The largest and most powerful of the four remaining tidal mills is possibly the largest tidal mill in the world. and the nearby Uranium City Uranium City, town, NW Sask., Canada, on Lake Athabasca near the Northwest Territories line. A large uranium-mining area from the 1950s, the closure of its mines in 1982 has led to economic collapse. mining camp thrived until production ceased in 1982. Once the gates were opened to private companies, prospectors moved southeast from Uranium City in the late 1960s. American, French, and German companies were in the mix as prices rose, rich discoveries were made at Cluff, Key and Rabbit Lakes and production boomed. The landscape shifted when prices dropped by nearly two-thirds in the early 1980s. Saskatchewan's geologically blessed industry held its own while others fell by the wayside. "All the producers in the U.S. had dropped out by 1985. The spot price was so low and they knew there was no way they could remain competitive at those prices," says Spross, who at the time was operations manager See datacenter manager. at Key Lake. "We were mining ore grade Ore grade is a measure that describes the concentration of a valuable natural material (such as metals or minerals) in its surrounding ore. Ore grade is used to assess the economic feasibility of a mining operation: the cost of extracting a natural material from its ore is directly of 2.5 per cent which was then the highest grade in the industry and unheard of Not heard of; of which there are no tidings. Unknown to fame; obscure. - Glanvill. See also: Unheard Unheard anywhere else." While prices floundered, prospects in the Lake Athabasca Basin flourished. Cigar Lake deposit was discovered in the mid-1980s with a magnitude higher grade than Key Lake but with different geological conditions. This was followed by McArthur River, which was yet again a much higher grade than other prospective mines. The industry's history is marked with changes in technology, mining practices and personnel management. In the early days, towns and camps were built in close proximity to mine sites; now most employees fly in to work and fly out back home every week. "The population of Uranium City was up as high as 4,000 people," Spross says. "Now, one of the first activities in a remote area is to build an airstrip which has ultimately proven more economical than building townships with hospitals, schools and other services. Spross helped alter work life when he introduced the seven days in, seven days out shift rotation at Rabbit Lake. Prior to that it was seen as an adventure to spend three weeks in a camp, yet home lives and productivity suffered, especially during the third week in camp. "The composition of the workforce changed dramatically. Plus the 11-hour or 12-hour shifts improved productivity, yet still left time for maintenance," Spross says. "It made sense to me and many others right from the beginning and it is a system people like." Gold The earliest record of mineral production was a gold find on the shores of the North Saskatchewan River The North Saskatchewan River is a glacier-fed river flowing east from the Canadian Rockies to central Saskatchewan. It is one of two major rivers that join to make up the Saskatchewan River. east of Prince Albert Prince Albert, city (1991 pop. 34,181), central Sask., Canada, on the North Saskatchewan River. Prince Albert is a commercial and distribution center for a lumbering, gold- and uranium-mining, and mixed-farming area. There are wood-products and meatpacking industries. in 1859. Prospectors destined des·tine tr.v. des·tined, des·tin·ing, des·tines 1. To determine beforehand; preordain: a foolish scheme destined to fail; a film destined to become a classic. 2. for the Caribou Caribou, town, United States Caribou (kâr`ĭb ), town (1990 pop. 9,415), Aroostook co., NE Maine, on the Aroostook River; inc. 1859. gold rush in British Columbia British Columbia, province (2001 pop. 3,907,738), 366,255 sq mi (948,600 sq km), including 6,976 sq mi (18,068 sq km) of water surface, W Canada.
Geographywould stop off to pan the river, activity that would later lead to dredging operations on a select few provincial waterways. Most of the gold found in Saskatchewan, however, has been byproduct by·prod·uct or by-prod·uct n. 1. Something produced in the making of something else. 2. A secondary result; a side effect. Noun 1. from copper and zinc mines in the Flin Flon Flin Flon (flĭn flŏn), city (1991 pop. in Manitoba, 7,119; in Saskatchewan, 330), on the Man.-Sask. border, Canada. It is a mining and smelting center in a region producing copper, zinc, silver, gold, and cadmium; it also serves a lumbering and Creighton areas. Other gold mining sites have dotted the map across northern Saskatchewan over the years, including the Beaverlodge area on the north shore of Lake Athabasca and at the Box Mine on the Crackingstone Peninsula. Skyrocketing gold prices in the 1980s pushed gold exploration in the province to $55 million in 1988 and marked the only time in the province's history that there has been a wide-ranging gold exploration effort. The Seabee Mine went into production in 1991. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Coal The Bienfait Mine has the distinction of being the longest continuous mining operation in Saskatchewan and will mark its 100th year of operation in 2005. It is just one part of an industry that has undergone enormous changes while continually building its significance to the provincial economy. The first recorded indications of the rich coal seams in what was to become southern Saskatchewan were made by the Palliser Expedition The British North American Exploring Expedition, commonly called the Palliser Expedition explored and surveyed the open prairies and rugged wilderness of western Canada from 1857 to 1860. in 1857. While coal was used by area Natives and local farmers on through to the turn of the century, it wasn't until 1927 that the Sunlight Coal Company opened the first extensive strip mine. Their product, however, was so waterlogged wa·ter·logged adj. 1. Nautical Heavy and sluggish in the water because of flooding, as in the hold: a waterlogged ship. 2. that in winter it froze when loaded into rail cars and was virtually unmarketable. Underground coal mining underground coal mining: see coal mining. was the extraction method of choice in the Estevan area for the next several years and estimates pegged the number of active mines as high as 100 by the end of the Second World War. Surface mining gradually replaced underground mining and by 1955 every commercial coal operation had converted to open pit mining. Surface mining remains the only method of coal extraction in the province. Drag line 1. (Aëronautics) A guide rope. excavation along with truck-and-shovel mining equipment are used to mine the 12 million tonnes annually produced by coal mines in the province. Today, Saskatchewan is the third-largest producer of coal in Canada with the bulk of product used by SaskPower in electricity generation. RELATED ARTICLE: A CENTURY OF MINING Significant events in the history of the Saskatchewan mining industry. With thanks to Dave MacDougall and Bill Slimmon from Industry and Resources 1905 * Bienfait coal mine 1907 * Eagle Lake coal mine 1913 * Gold discovered at Amisk Lake 1915 * Copper-zinc ore discovered at Flin Flon 1918 * Canadian Salt and Potash Co. of Canada Ltd. attempts alkali recovery at Muskiki Lake 1927 * Sunlight Coal Company initiates large-scale open-pit mining Open-pit mining, also known as opencast mining, refers to a method of extracting rock or minerals from the earth by their removal from an open pit or borrow. 1930 * Copper production begins at Flin Flon * Truax-Traer Coal Company starts strip mining 1933 * Salt production from brines at Simpson 1935 * Uranium discovered at Beaverlodge District 1937 * The Prince Albert (Monarch) gold mine begins production 1939 * Box gold mine near Goldfields n. 1. A small slender woolly annual (Lasthenia chrysostoma) with very narrow opposite leaves and branches bearing solitary golden-yellow flower heads; it grows from Southwestern Oregon to Baja California and Arizona; - it is often cultivated. starts 1942 * Monarch gold mine closes * Box gold mine closes * Alsask sodium sulphate plant opens * Potash discovered near Radville 1949 * Prairie Salt Company starts salt production at Unity 1951 * Western Potash Corporation Ltd. attempts first commercial potash production 1953 * Mining begins at Uranium City 1955 * Underground coal mining ceases 1957 * Utility coal mine opens 1958 * Patience Lake potash mine opens 1960 * Costello coal mine 1961 * Klimax coal mine 1962 * Esterhazy K-1 potash mine 1964 * Belle-Plaine potash mine 1967 * Esterhazy K-2 potash mine 1968 * Uranium discovered in Athabasca area * Lanigan, Allan and Cory potash mines open 1969 * Colonsay and Vanscoy potash mines open 1970 * Rocanville potash mine 1973 * Boundary Dam coal mine 1975 * Rabbit Lake uranium mine 1980 * Poplar River coal mine * Production begins at Cluff Lake uranium mine 1982 * Mining ends at Uranium City 1983 * Key Lake uranium mine 1987 * Star Lake gold mine begins production 1988 * Jolu gold mine begins production 1989 * Star Lake gold mine closes * Diamonds discovered at Fort a la Corne 1991 * Seabee gold mine starts * Jolu gold mine closes * Alsask sodium sulphate plant closes * Cabri sodium sulphate plant closes * Metsikow sodium sulphate plant closes 1992 * Shand coal mine 1995 * Contact Lake gold mine opens 1997 * Konuto Lake copper-zinc mine starts 1998 * Contact Lake gold mine closes * McClean Lake uranium mine begins production 1999 * McArthur River uranium mine opens 2002 * Cluff Lake uranium mine closes 2005 * Cigar Lake uranium mine proceeds |
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