Northland Pyrite Mine

Northland Pyrite Mine
	The loading dock at the southern end of the Northland Pyrite Mine site
Location
	Northland Pyrite Mine Location in Ontario
Location	Temagami
Province	Ontario
Country	Canada
Coordinates	47°17′N80°02′W / 47.29°N 80.03°W Coordinates: 47°17′N80°02′W / 47.29°N 80.03°W
Production
Products	Chalcopyrite, pyrite, pyrrhotite
Production	76,067,050 pounds
History
Opened	1906
Closed	1911
Owner
Company	Boland Lake Resources

Last updated April 28, 2019

The Northland Pyrite Mine, also known as James Lake Mine, Rib Lake Mine, Harris Mine or simply Northland Mine, is an abandoned underground mine in Northeastern Ontario, Canada, located on the southwestern shore of James Lake in Best Township of Temagami. It was operated by the Northland Mining Company during the early 1900s with the construction of a 91 m (299 ft) shaft and many open-cuts north of the shaft. Minerals present at the mine include chalcopyrite, pyrite and pyrrhotite, deposited in Precambrian volcanic rock of the Canadian Shield.

Underground hard rock mining refers to various underground mining techniques used to excavate hard minerals, usually those containing metals such as ore containing gold, silver, iron, copper, zinc, nickel, tin and lead, but also involves using the same techniques for excavating ores of gems such as diamonds or rubies. Soft rock mining refers to excavation of softer minerals such as salt, coal, or oil sands.

Northeastern Ontario is a secondary region of Northern Ontario which lies north of Lake Huron and east of Lake Superior.

Canada is a country in the northern part of North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering 9.98 million square kilometres, making it the world's second-largest country by total area. Canada's southern border with the United States, stretching some 8,891 kilometres (5,525 mi), is the world's longest bi-national land border. Its capital is Ottawa, and its three largest metropolitan areas are Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. As a whole, Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its land area being dominated by forest and tundra. Consequently, its population is highly urbanized, with over 80 percent of its inhabitants concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, with 70% of citizens residing within 100 kilometres (62 mi) of the southern border. Canada's climate varies widely across its vast area, ranging from arctic weather in the north, to hot summers in the southern regions, with four distinct seasons.

History

Before the operation of Northland Pyrite Mine in the early 1900s, water levels of James Lake increased and decreased.^[1] The cause of this alternation could have been caused by beavers building dams in the lake's outlet, eventually causing the water levels to rise.^[1] This rise in water levels began to cease in 1906 when operations of the Northland Pyrite Mine began to dump volcanic waste rock along the southwestern shore of James Lake.^[1] This began with the construction of the 91 m (299 ft) shaft and the several open-cuts north of the shaft, but the mine site was originally discovered in 1903.^[2] Erosion of the volcanic waste rock resulted in the development of acidic lake wastewaters next to the waste pile, causing organisms around the mine to disappear.^[1] The name Harris Mine was coined for Northland Pyrite Mine by E.L. Fraleck in 1907 when Northland was actively operating for a year.^[2]

The beaver is a large, primarily nocturnal, semiaquatic rodent. Castor includes two extant species, the North American beaver and Eurasian beaver (Eurasia). Beavers are known for building dams, canals, and lodges (homes). They are the second-largest rodent in the world. Their colonies create one or more dams to provide still, deep water to protect against predators, and to float food and building material. The North American beaver population was once more than 60 million, but as of 1988 was 6–12 million. This population decline is the result of extensive hunting for fur, for glands used as medicine and perfume, and because the beavers' harvesting of trees and flooding of waterways may interfere with other land uses.

From February 1906 to March 1911, the Northland Pyrite Mine was in nearly continuous production. According to a former report from the Ontario Northland Railway, 76,067,050 pounds were sent throughout this epoch and was shipped to the town of Cobalt further north.^[2] A.A. Cole, who was the former manager of the former Temiskaming Testing Laboratories facility in Cobalt, stated the closure of Northland was due to the mine transporting pyrrhotite instead of pyrite for three days.^[2] The mined pyrrhotite was said to be in a parallel lens to the mined pyrite and its quality was unnoticed.^[2] During mine closer in March 1911, the 91 m (299 ft) shaft was filled in with logs and waste rock and the adjacent waters of James Lake has since flooded the mine to create more acidic lake wastewater. Colours of the wastewater range from orange to dark red in the central portion of the mine site and green in a narrow open-cut at the southern end of the mine site just west of the mine shaft.

The Ontario Northland Railway is a Canadian railway operated by the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission, a provincial Crown agency of the government of Ontario.

Cobalt is a town in the district of Timiskaming, in the province of Ontario, Canada, with a population of 1,118 according to the Canada 2016 Census.

Pyrrhotite sulfide mineral; polytypes: 11H, 3T, 4C, 4H, 4M, 5C, 6C, 6M, 7H

Pyrrhotite is an iron sulfide mineral with the formula Fe_(1-x)S. It is a nonstoichiometric variant of FeS, the mineral known as troilite. Pyrrhotite is also called magnetic pyrite, because the color is similar to pyrite and it is weakly magnetic. The magnetism decreases as the iron content increases, and troilite is non-magnetic.

Geology

The Northland Pyrite Mine lies in a pyrite-bearing zone associated with a band of Keewatin bedded tuffs.^[2] This is the only major pyrite zone in the James Lake area and the Northland Pyrite Mine is the only past producer in the area, with no operating mines present.^[2] Cobalt-silver, molybdenum, platinum, nickel, gold and copper exist in the zone.^[2]

Tuff, also known as volcanic tuff, is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is compacted into a solid rock in a process called consolidation. Tuff is sometimes erroneously called "tufa", particularly when used as construction material, but properly speaking, tufa is a limestone precipitated from groundwater. Rock that contains greater than 50% tuff is considered tuffaceous.

Silver is a chemical element with symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. The metal is found in the Earth's crust in the pure, free elemental form, as an alloy with gold and other metals, and in minerals such as argentite and chlorargyrite. Most silver is produced as a byproduct of copper, gold, lead, and zinc refining.

Molybdenum is a chemical element with symbol Mo and atomic number 42. The name is from Neo-Latin molybdaenum, from Ancient Greek Μόλυβδος molybdos, meaning lead, since its ores were confused with lead ores. Molybdenum minerals have been known throughout history, but the element was discovered in 1778 by Carl Wilhelm Scheele. The metal was first isolated in 1781 by Peter Jacob Hjelm.

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References

External links

"Northland Pyrite". Abandoned Mines Information System, Ministry of Northern Development and Mines . Retrieved 2011-07-19.

The Abandoned Mines Information System (AMIS) is a database created by the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines of Ontario, Canada. It includes over 5,600 abandoned and inactive mines throughout Ontario, as well as associated hazards. Basic information about every known abandoned and inactive mine in Ontario is in the database, including name, location and period when it was in operation.

The Ministry of Northern Development and Mines (MNDM) is responsible for assisting economic development in the Northern Ontario region and for mining in the Canadian province of Ontario.

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[SI-1] 1 2 3 4 Abstracts of the Proceedings of the Thirty-Sixth Annual Meeting of the American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists

[XJP-2] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Geology adjacent to Highway 11 in Best Township and the south part of Gillies Limit Township districts of Timiskaming and Nipissing