The mining operation here is the Stobie Mine, a historic operation outside Sudbury, Ontario.
After years of closure, the mine has a new life as a surface operation, with world-class mine services contractor Thiess leading the charge. The deposit is rich in copper, nickel, and cobalt, just as the world needs more metals than ever!
The temperature was CHILLY, but the iron and crews were still moving without issue!
An old friend kept the roads open to those mines. Most of it across frozen lakes and Islands. He was a big Indian. Ed Courteau. I probably spelled the last name wrong but I'm close. He was a crazy man. In maybe the 1980's National Geography there was an article on him. He is standing in boxer short, boots, a bottle of whiskey and his dog on a frozen lake. They asked him if plowing on the ice was dangerous. Ed spoke broken english and I'll try to type the way he talked. Dane jar? No, no Dane jar. Da machine some time she break tru de ice but you just sit dare. If you try to swim da machine she suck you down. When da machine hit da bottom of da lake then you swim up to da hole and crawl out. So, you see dare is no dane jar.
ReplyDeleteThis guy (Witt) gets flack for his videos but I find them interesting and he covers a lot of different projects.
ReplyDeleteWhy does he catch flak? I've only seen a few of his videos but they were all pretty good.
DeleteI should have watched the video first. I was talking about the gold mine way up in Northern Canada. They only bring the gold out in the winter when the lakes are frozen. At least that's the way it was years ago.
ReplyDeleteLook up Iron Creek Mine. It's at the northern tip of Baffin Island. A couple of buddies wanted to go up there a few years ago to work with them, but I'm too old now and I didn't want to go through all of the mandatory vaccinations and innoculations (the locals there had zero contact with anyone else and didn't have immune systems of even handling most winter flu variations.) I did work close to the 60th in Saskatchewan for a few years - spent time on the ice, and it was freaky when the sun was really low while you were driving over the lakes, as you could see all the little puffs of ice and vapour ahead of you as you drove.
ReplyDeleteInteresting times.
Sudbury isn't really that far North. There are uranium mines in North Saskatchewan. I've flown into Opapimiskan in NW Ontario, before they built the road, to help unload forcite explosive powder and colleagues of mine fixed the Twin Otters that serviced this mine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polaris_mine
ReplyDeleteAl_in_Ottawa
Dear Wirecutter, I have been reading your blog for many seasons. Dam if you don't have the most diverse type of readers from all types of backgrounds, with some of the most interesting experiences to share. Just awesome. Thank you! :)
ReplyDelete