Showing 44 results

The photographs were taken by Vincent McCaffrey. Originally from Cobalt, Ontario, Mr. McCaffrey lived in the Yellowknife region from 1955-1969 and was employed as a foreman at Discovery Mine. He was also active in local politics and a member of the NWT Liberal Party.

John Phillip Matta was born in 1928 in Vancouver, British Columbia, the eldest of four children. His father worked in the mining industry and thus moved the family to mine sites in British Columbia and Quebec while John grew up. He graduated from high school in 1946, and worked in mines until 1953 when he chose to join the Royal Canadian Air Force. He spent 10 years in the RCAF as a photographer with photo intelligence. After leaving the Air Force he worked as a production manager for a photo finishing company until his retirement in 1991. He has lived in Calgary since 1954.

Theodore H. Maranda worked as a Carpenter Foreman for Con Mine when it was first being established.

Marion MacPhee was born in South Uist, Scotland in 1922. She transferred from Goldfields, Saskatchewan to Yellowknife in July 1941. She was employed by Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada Limited, and worked in the company hospital. Marion left Yellowknife in October 1942, but returned in July 1946 to work in the Lakeview Café, run by Lil Bretzlaff. In April 1947 Marion married Edward Limoges in a service performed by Father Gathy. They left Yellowknife in August 1947.

E.T. “Ted” Lonergan and his wife Vera arrived in Yellowknife from Box Mine in Goldfields, Saskatchewan. Prior to working at Box Mine, Ted worked in the oil sands. He was a carpenter by trade and had his own construction company. In Yellowknife, he was a miner and shift worker at Con Mine.

The Lonergans remained in Yellowknife until 1943, when Ted joined the Royal Canadian Navy. After the war, he returned to Yellowknife and went to work at Giant Mine. He left Yellowknife in the early 1950s.

In the mid-1980s, he was living in Vancouver and working as a Project Supervisor and Coordinator at Placer Development Limited.

Charles LaBine was born in 1888 at Westmeath, a small community in the Ottawa Valley near Pembroke, Ontario. Charles was the elder brother of Gilbert LaBine. After working for several years in the silver mines of northern Ontario, Charles and Gilbert LaBine began prospecting for themselves. They founded Eldorado Gold Mines Ltd. in the 1920s following the discovery of gold in Manitoba. Charles LaBine was responsible for managing the financial aspects of the mining operation. Though Eldorado Gold didn’t succeed as hoped, it provided the LaBine brothers with the finances needed mto conduct further prospecting activities.

Investigating the mining potential around Great Bear Lake that had been documented by James McIntosh Bell of the Geological Survey of Canada, the LaBine brothers began prospecting along the shores of Great Bear Lake. In the spring of 1930, Gilbert LaBine discovered a deposit of pitchblende, another name for uranium ore. The discovery was made on the shore of Echo Bay. The development of a viable mining operation faced significant financing and logistical challenges, as the mine was more than 2000 km from the nearest railway. Although Charles was not with Gilbert when the pitchblende was found, it was his job to follow up and solve the financing and logistical problems of moving equipment to the mine site and the ore south for processing. In order to finance the development, the LaBines mined the silver that lay in the same area of Great Bear Lake.

The operation began as a radium mine in 1932, extracting radium from pitchblende. Mined materials were shipped by barge and air plane to Fort McMurray, Alberta, then by train to a radium refinery in Port Hope, Ontario. The company secured a contract with the United States military early in 1942. The Eldorado Mine at Port Radium was transferred to the Canadian Government in 1944 and renamed Eldorado Mining and Refining Limited. Uranium ore from the mine was used in the atomic bomb developments of 1945.

In the 1950s, uranium was discovered along the shores of Lake Athabasca. There the Labine brothers founded Gunnar Mines, the first Canadian producer of uranium that returned a profit to its shareholders. Gilbert was president and Charles the vice-president of Gunnar. Charles retired from the management in 1955.
The contribution of the LaBine brothers to the advancement of medical science as a result of their work was recognized at home and abroad. The brothers received the Curie medal from the governing body of the International Union Against Cancer. The citation accompanying the medal to Charles LaBine said that the Pierre and Marie Curie medal, which had been struck in 1938 on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the discovery of radium, was conferred upon him “for the distinguished services that you have rendered to science and to humanity.” Charles LaBine died in 1969 at the age of 81.

Alfred Klaus worked for Con Mine in Yellowknife from July 1941-July 1942, then left to join the Armed Forces.

William Archibald (Archie) Jamieson was born in Valleyfield, Quebec on July 8, 1888. He studied mechanical engineering in Providence, Rhode Island until 1910 and lived in Rhode Island and later in Maryland before moving to Toronto, Ontario in 1913. He was married to Rosemond Ihley in 1912 and moved to Toronto, Ontario in 1913 where he was employed with Consolidated Steel Company until 1918. He had two children with Rosemond; Malcolm and John. In 1923, he moved to Fort Frances, Ontario after the death of his wife and lived there until 1925, when he returned to Toronto and was employed at the Central Scientific Company. In 1926-1927, he attended the Ontario Training College for Technical Teachers at Hamilton, Ontario and in 1927 he moved to Goldboro, Nova Scotia where he was employed at the Victory Gold Mine as Mechanical Engineer and Foreman. In 1929, he married Edna Peitzsche in Goldboro and they had four children: Archie Junior, David, Bernice and Sheila Anne. In 1933, he left Goldboro for work at Rouyn-Noranda in Quebec. Between 1933-1939, he worked in various locations including the Treadwell-Yukon Mine, Lee Gold Mines in Ontario, the mine in Goldfields, Saskatchewan and at the Noordyn Aviation Company in Montreal. In 1940, he was contacted by J.J. Byrne who asked him to help build a mine on Outpost Island, Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories. He arrived on Outpost Island on September 9, 1940 and completed his work in July 1941. By the end of July, he returned to Goldboro, Nova Scotia where he worked for the Canadian Car and Foundry Company that built airplanes for the war effort. In 1946, the family moved to Walton, Nova Scotia, where Archie was employed as a Master Mechanic at a barites mine. He died on March 1, 1960.

George Hunter was born in Regina, Saskatchewan in 1921. In 1937 at the age of 16, he bought his first camera to record his trip to London, England for the coronation of King George VI. He began selling his first photographs the next year. From 1945-1950 he worked for the National Film Board's Still Division. In 1950, he went into business for himself, buying a Piper Clipper airplane for aerial photographs. He promoted himself as a corporate, industrial and aerial photographer.

George Hunter's work in the north consisted of primarily mining industry photography during the 1950s. During this time he also gained an international reputation, carrying out assignments for Time, Fortune and National Geographic magazines. In 1977 he was one of the first photographers elected to the Royal Canadian Acadamy of Arts. His images have been used by companies around the world, as well as Canada Post for images on stamps, and the Bank of Canada, which used his images of salmon seiners on the $5 bill and oil refineries on the $10 bill for the 1972-1988 banknote series. His more recent work has focused on travel photography and fine art photography. In 2005 the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Center hosted an exhibit of his work entitled "Not only gold: 1950s mining in the NWT", by the NWT Mining Heritage Society, funded in part by the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment.

George Hunter passed away in Mississauga, Ontario on April 10, 2013.

Ole Hagen was born in Norway in 1888; he moved to Canada in 1914. He worked for the railways in Ontario and as a miner at Cobalt, Ontario. He first came to the Northwest Territories in 1928 and worked at locations such as Great Bear Lake and Yellowknife until the 1950s. Hagen and his partner Major L.A. Burwash, were the original prospectors at Negus. Mr. Hagen sold his shares at Negus and Great Bear Lake Mines in 1937 but continued to work in the north until the 1950s when he returned to Ontario. He died in 1961.

The original 21 Giant Mine claims were staked by C.J. Baker and H.M. Muir in July 1935. Both prospectors were at that time working for Burwash Yellowknife Mines, Ltd. In August 1937, Giant Yellowknife Mines, Ltd. was incorporated. In 1941, Frobisher Explorations, a subsidiary of Ventures Ltd. examined the Giant claims and signed an agreement with Giant in which they gained control of Giant. The first gold brick was poured in May 1948. In 1962, Ventures Ltd. merged with Falconbridge Mines, Ltd. In 1986, the Pamour group of companies began acquiring shares in Giant Yellowknife Mines Ltd. and bought the company from Falconbridge for $200 million dollars. In 1990, Royal Oak Resources Inc. purchased the Pamour group of companies along with all of its subsidiaries, including Giant Yellowknife Mine, Akaitcho Yellowknife Gold Mines and Supercrest Mines Ltd. Royal Oak Mines Inc. was formed through the amalgamation of these companies. Royal Oak Mines Inc. declared bankruptcy in 1999 and Giant Mine was put into receivership and officially closed in the fall of 1999.

John Reid Day was born in Dealy, Saskatchewan on April 19, 1912. In 1937, he was hired by Cominco to assist in the construction of the camp at Yellowknife. In 1938, he worked as an independent contractor in Yellowknife and employed by various companies, including Cominco. In 1939, he worked for Cominco and Thompson-Lundmark in Goldfields, Saskatchewan. He left the north in 1940 but returned in 1945 to supervise construction at Negus mine until 1948, when he again left the north. From 1959 to 1960, he worked at a Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line site in the eastern arctic. In 1970, he retired to Anglemont, British Columbia.

Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada Ltd. (C.M.S.) was formed in 1906 as a subsidiary of Canadian Pacific Rail with head operations in Trail, British Columbia. Its aggressive northern exploration in the 1920s and 1930s led to stakes claimed in 1927/28 on the lead and zinc deposits on the south shore of Great Slave Lake, which would later become Pine Point Mine, silver deposits at Great Bear Lake in the 1930s, and Con Mine, which was the first gold mine to go into production in the NWT in 1938. C.M.S. also developed other mines in the Northwest Territories including Thompson-Lundmark, Ruth, Ptarmigan, and Polaris. C.M.S. mines had a significant impact on the economic and social history of the Northwest Territories, particularly in the case of Con Mine and Pine Point.

Con Mine
C.M.S. sent several prospecting parties headed by Ted Nagle into the Yellowknife area in 1928/29, but their searches did not reveal anything significant. During a staking rush in 1935, Bill Jewitt sent a small group of men led by Mike Finland into the Kam Lake area of Yellowknife where they filed ‘CON’ claims in September and October. In 1937 C.M.S. bought an interest in Tom Payne’s adjacent properties, which developed into the Rycon Mine company. The construction of the Con-Rycon mines began on July 13, 1937 under the lead of Bob Armstrong. Production began in the spring of 1938 with the first gold brick poured on September 5, 1938. The Bluefish Hydro plant on Prosperous Lake was built in 1940 to support the energy needs of the mine, and also made Yellowknife the first electrified NWT community. Production at Con Mine ceased between 1943 and 1945 due to WWII although maintenance and development work continued under the direction of geologist Dr. Neil Campbell. The Campbell Shear Zone was named in honour of his hypothesis of a major orebody 2000 feet below the surface of the mine. Its existence was confirmed in 1946, with full production starting in 1963 and continuing until the closure of the mine. In 1953 C.M.S. bought the Negus Mine and found new reserves there. In 1966 C.M.S. changed its name to Cominco. The Robertson shaft – at 250 feet the tallest building in the NWT – was completed in 1977 and eventually reached a depth of 6250 feet. The Con Mine was the most productive gold mine in the NWT, and Cominco’s most successful gold mine.

In 1986 Cominco sold the Con Mine to Nerco Minerals for $46 million US. Con Mine was subsequently bought by Miramar Corporation for $25 million US in 1993. Miramar leased the mining rights of the Giant Mine in 1999 and milled Giant ore at the Con Mine. In 2003 mining ceased at Con, and the processing of Giant ore at Con ceased in 2004. Demolition and reclamation of the mine site occurred over several years, with the demolition of the iconic Robertson headframe - then the tallest structure in the NWT - happening on October 29, 2016.

Through its history, the Con Mine produced 5,276,363 ounces of gold from 12,195,585 tons of ore milled between 1938 and 2003. Over 10,000 gold bars were produced in 65 years of operation.

Pine Point
In 1928 C.M.S. began exploration in the Pine Point area south of Great Slave Lake, and in 1929 formed the Northern Lead Zinc Company with the Atlas Exploration Company and Ventures Ltd. Assessment work on the lead and zinc deposits in the area continued between 1930 to 1948, with extensive exploration drilling 1948 to 1955. Pine Point Mines Ltd. was formed in 1951 with C.M.S. holding a majority interest. In 1962 Pine Point Mines Ltd. began construction on the Great Slave Lake Railway with assistance from Canadian National Railway and the Canadian Federal government’s “Road to Resources” program. This railway line connected Roma Junction, Alberta and Pine Point, a company town that was established in 1964. Mining began in 1963, and mill production started in 1965. Mining ceased due to economics in 1987, and the town officially closed on September 1, 1987. 8.4 billion pounds of zinc and 2.6 billion pounds of lead were produced over the mine’s history. The railway and townsite have since been removed.

The Yellowknife Branch of the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy was organized in October 1945 and held their first regular meeting at the Negus Mine in November of the same year. The J. G. McNiven was the founding Chairman, with J. D. Bateman as Vice Chair, Dr. Neil Campbell as Secretary-Treasurer, and W. J. Tought, H. C. Giegerich, and W. J. Hacker also on the operating committee. The other charter members included J. C. Kingston, H. B. Denis, A. K. Muir, J. M. Wilson, C. E. Anderson, and John Anderson-Thomson. The Branch also established a Safety Committee to promote mine safety and a Legislative Committee to examine NWT Legislation and suggest amendments. The Branch held monthly meetings, usually with a presentation component. They also ran an annual prospector’s course with instructors drawn from their membership and Yellowknife geological professionals, held an annual social ball, and participated in special events, including hosting a visit from the Governor General in 1947.

The Canadian Institute for Mining and Metallurgy was established as the Canadian Mining Institute in 1898 by an Act of Parliament. Their name changed in 1920 to Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and, more recently, in 1990 to Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum. The Yellowknife Branch is still active.

From 1905 to 1967, the administration of the Northwest Territories was the responsibility of several different federal departments. From 1922 to 1953, various versions of the Northwest Territories and Yukon Branch were administered by the Department of the Interior (1922-1936) and the Department of Mines and Resources (1937-1953). During these years, this administration was run almost exclusively from Ottawa. In 1953, the branch concerned with the administration of the Northwest Territories, known at that time as the Northern Administration and Lands Branch, transferred to the Department of Northern Affairs and National Resources. The Northern Administration and Lands Branch expanded rapidly in the 1950s and in 1959 it was renamed the Northern Administration Branch. This coincided with a reorganization of the responsibilities handled by the Branch. The responsibility for northern affairs was divided into six divisions: 1) Territorial Division; 2) Education Division; 3) Industrial Division; 4) Welfare Division; 5) Resources Division and 6) Engineering Division. In conjunction with this reorganization, a program of decentralization of the field operations of the Northern Administration Branch was enhanced by the creation of two new regional offices. The Administrator of the Mackenzie was stationed in Fort Smith, while the Administrator of the Arctic, stationed in Ottawa, was responsible for the Districts of Keewatin and Franklin, as well as Inuit affairs in arctic Quebec. In 1966, the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development supplanted the Department of Northern Affairs and Natural Resources. In 1967, Yellowknife was established as the capital of the Northwest Territories and the transfer of responsibilities from the Northern Administration Branch to the Government of the Northwest Territories began. The transfer rendered the Northern Administration Branch obsolete and during 1968, the Territorial Relations Branch replaced it.

On January 20, 1950 the federal Department of Mines and Resources was dissolved and three new departments were created: Resources and Development; Citizenship and Immigration; and the Department of Mines and Technical Surveys. The name changed again on October 19, 1966 to the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources.

The federal Department of Mines and Resources was established on June 23, 1936 with the amalgamation of the Department of Mines, Department of the Interior, and the Department of Immigration and Colonization. The new department was divided into five branches: Mines and Geology; Lands, Parks, and Forests; Indian Affairs; Immigration; and Surveys and Engineering. In 1950, the name was changed to the Department of Mines and Technical Surveys with some of the department's functions absorbed by the newly created Department of Resources and Development.

Norman W. Byrne was born in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario on February 17, 1912. Although he had first travelled to the NWT with his father, who was a prospector, and his brother Jerry in 1932, he returned to McGill to complete his studies. In 1936 after graduating from McGill University with a degree in Mining Engineering, he moved to Gold Fields (Uranium City) and later to Outpost Island where he worked as a Mine Engineer. In 1940, with the closure of the mine at Outpost Island, Byrne moved to Whitehorse where he worked on the Canol Pipeline. In 1945 Byrne moved to Yellowknife and was asked to survey the Discovery claims. Byrne was so impressed with the claim that he, along with his father and brother, purchased it. Mining work then began at the Discovery Mines Limited property and on February 10, 1950 the first gold brick was poured. After the first 17 years of operation, over $35 million had been extracted from the Discovery Mines Limited claim.

Despite Byrne's involvement with the Discovery claims, he continued to work as a consultant
Mining Engineer. He was also involved in developing Rayrock Mines Limited, Northland Mines Limited and Tundra Mines Limited. In 1964 Byrne began a second career as a real estate developer in Yellowknife and his company constructed many houses and apartment buildings in the town. He was a strong supporter of the lobby group working to have the capital city of the NWT established at Yellowknife rather than at Fort Smith. He was also actively involved in many community organisations in Yellowknife and was a vocal advocate of the establishment of a separate Catholic school system in the community.
He was the chairman of the Separate School Board from its inception in 1951 until his death on November 14, 1973.

Boyles Brothers Drilling Company Ltd. was an international company with offices in Vancouver, Port Arthur, Edmonton, the Philippines, Singapore and England. The Yellowknife operation was managed from the Port Arthur, Ontario office until 1948 and subsequently from the Edmonton office. The company's Yellowknife operation was involved with contracted drilling for mining companies and exploration companies.