Great Mining Camps of Canada 7. The Bathurst Mining Camp, New Brunswick, Part 1: Geology and Exploration History

McCutcheon, S. R.; Walker, James A.

doi:10.12789/geocanj.2019.46.150

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…The location and definition of the BMC are described in McCutcheon and Walker (2019). Suffice it to say that the BMC occupies an area of approximately 3800 km 2 in the central part of northern New Brunswick (Fig.…”

Section: Camp Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Great Mining Camps of Canada 8. The Bathurst Mining Camp, New Brunswick, Part 2: Mining History and Contributions to Society

McCutcheon¹,

Walker²

2020

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In the Bathurst Mining Camp (BMC), 12 of the 45 known massive sulphide deposits were mined between 1957 and 2013; one was mined for iron prior to 1950, whereas three others had development work but no production. Eleven of the deposits were mined for base metals for a total production of approximately 179 Mt, with an average grade of 3.12% Pb, 7.91% Zn, 0.47% Cu, and 93.9 g/t Ag. The other deposit was solely mined for gold, present in gossan above massive sulphide, producing approximately one million tonnes grading 1.79 g/t Au. Three of the 11 mined base-metal deposits also had a gossan cap, from which gold was extracted. In 2012, the value of production from the Bathurst Mining Camp exceeded $670 million and accounted for 58 percent of total mineral production in New Brunswick.Base-metal production started in the BMC in 1957 from deposits at Heath Steele Mines, followed by Wedge in 1962, Brunswick No. 12 in 1964, Brunswick No. 6 in 1965, Caribou in 1970, Murray Brook, Stratmat Boundary and Stratmat N-5 in 1989, Captain North Extension in 1990, and lastly, Half Mile Lake in 2012. The only mine in continuous production for most of this time was Brunswick No. 12. During its 49-year lifetime (1964–2013), it produced 136,643,367 tonnes of ore grading 3.44% Pb, 8.74% Zn, 0.37% Cu, and 102.2 g/t Ag, making it one of the largest underground base-metal mines in the world.The BMC remains important to New Brunswick and Canada because of its contributions to economic development, environmental measures, infrastructure, mining innovations, and society in general. The economic value of metals recovered from Brunswick No. 12 alone, in today’s prices exceeds $46 billion. Adding to this figure is production from the other mines in the BMC, along with money injected into the local economy from annual exploration expenditures (100s of $1000s per year) over 60 years. Several environmental measures were initiated in the BMC, including the requirement to be clean shaven and carry a portable respirator (now applied to all mines in Canada); ways to treat acid mine drainage and the thiosalt problem that comes from the milling process; and pioneering studies to develop and install streamside-incubation boxes for Atlantic Salmon eggs in the Nepisiguit River, which boosted survival rates to over 90%. Regarding infrastructure, provincial highways 180 and 430 would not exist if not for the discovery of the BMC; nor would the lead smelter and deep-water port at Belledune. Mining innovations are too numerous to list in this summary, so the reader is referred to the main text. Regarding social effects, the new opportunities, new wealth, and training provided by the mineral industry dramatically changed the living standards and social fabric of northern New Brunswick. What had been a largely poor, rural society, mostly dependent upon the fishing and forestry industries, became a thriving modern community. Also, untold numbers of engineers, geologists, miners, and prospectors `cut their teeth’ in the BMC, and many of them have gone on to make their mark in other parts of Canada and the world.

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Section: Camp Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Great Mining Camps of Canada 8. The Bathurst Mining Camp, New Brunswick, Part 2: Mining History and Contributions to Society

McCutcheon¹,

Walker²

2020

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“…The region soon became known as the Keno Hill Silver District. More than 70 veins of silver deposits were mined between the two hills, cumulatively extracting over 200,000,000 ounces of silver, and producing more wealth than the Klondike Gold Rush (Cathro 2006). Mines also collaterally extracted other metals such as lead and zinc.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tracking the long-term limnological impacts of silver mining near Keno City (Yukon, subarctic Canada)

Jones,

Michelutti,

Would

et al. 2024

J Paleolimnol

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Mining in Northern Canada has been known to cause major environmental repercussions; however, monitoring data are scarce or non-existent. Here, we use a multi-proxy (metals, bioindicators, pigments) paleolimnological approach to track the impacts of mining activity near Keno City, on the traditional land of the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun, in central Yukon (Canada). Silver was discovered in the early-1900s, primarily on or between two hills (Galena Hill and Keno Hill) and intensive mining has taken place ever since, with brief hiatuses dependent to ore prices and ownership of the claims. Christal Lake, a shallow site located in the valley between both hills, lies nearby many historical and current mines, and was once the site of a processing mill. Geochemical data show elevated background concentrations of many metals and faithfully track known mining activity. Interestingly, background (pre-mining) sediment concentrations of arsenic, cadmium, and zinc were all elevated above the Canadian Sediment Quality Guidelines for the Protection of Aquatic Life, re ecting the high concentrations of these elements in the local catchment. These, and other metal(loid)s, increased and peaked in sedimentary concentration after ca. 1920s, when intensive mining began. Sedimentary chlorophyll-a concentrations plummeted with the rise of metal concentrations, although increased again slightly in more recent sediments, perhaps re ecting the decline in recent metal inputs and reclamation of historic mine sites. Meanwhile, subfossil diatom assemblages were dominated by small benthic Fragilaria sensu lato taxa, whose assemblage composition only changed subtly with mining (similar to other shallow, non-acidi ed sites in Norilsk, Siberia). There was no biological evidence of acidi cation, likely due to the neutralizing effect of the carbonate-rich catchment. Cladoceran subfossils were only present in very low numbers throughout the core, re ecting both the shallow nature and high background metal concentrations in the lake. Collectively, these data show the long-term impacts of silver mining in this subarctic environment.

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Tracking the long-term limnological impacts of silver mining near Keno City (Yukon, subarctic Canada)

Jones,

Michelutti,

Would

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Mining in Northern Canada has been known to cause major environmental repercussions; however, monitoring data are scarce or non-existent. Here, we use a multi-proxy (metals, bioindicators, pigments) paleolimnological approach to track the impacts of mining activity near Keno City, on the traditional land of the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun, in central Yukon (Canada). Silver was discovered in the early-1900s, primarily on or between two hills (Galena Hill and Keno Hill) and intensive mining has taken place ever since, with brief hiatuses dependent to ore prices and ownership of the claims. Christal Lake, a shallow site located in the valley between both hills, lies nearby many historical and current mines, and was once the site of a processing mill. Geochemical data show elevated background concentrations of many metals and faithfully track known mining activity. Interestingly, background (pre-mining) sediment concentrations of arsenic, cadmium, and zinc were all elevated above the Canadian Sediment Quality Guidelines for the Protection of Aquatic Life, reflecting the high concentrations of these elements in the local catchment. These, and other metal(loid)s, increased and peaked in sedimentary concentration after ca. 1920s, when intensive mining began. Sedimentary chlorophyll-a concentrations plummeted with the rise of metal concentrations, although increased again slightly in more recent sediments, perhaps reflecting the decline in recent metal inputs and reclamation of historic mine sites. Meanwhile, subfossil diatom assemblages were dominated by small benthic Fragilaria sensu lato taxa, whose assemblage composition only changed subtly with mining (similar to other shallow, non-acidified sites in Norilsk, Siberia). There was no biological evidence of acidification, likely due to the neutralizing effect of the carbonate-rich catchment. Cladoceran subfossils were only present in very low numbers throughout the core, reflecting both the shallow nature and high background metal concentrations in the lake. Collectively, these data show the long-term impacts of silver mining in this subarctic environment.

show abstract

Great Mining Camps of Canada 7. The Bathurst Mining Camp, New Brunswick, Part 1: Geology and Exploration History

Cited by 4 publications

References 11 publications

Great Mining Camps of Canada 8. The Bathurst Mining Camp, New Brunswick, Part 2: Mining History and Contributions to Society

Great Mining Camps of Canada 8. The Bathurst Mining Camp, New Brunswick, Part 2: Mining History and Contributions to Society

Tracking the long-term limnological impacts of silver mining near Keno City (Yukon, subarctic Canada)

Tracking the long-term limnological impacts of silver mining near Keno City (Yukon, subarctic Canada)

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