Fifty Years Ago / December 1953

Kluane Lake deposits bigger

Recent drill results have caused officials at Hudson Bay Mining & Smelting to revise their estimate of the deposits being developed at Kluane Lake in the Yukon. They were initially thought to be small but high-grade.

Now HudBay concedes that the property may be a “fair-size tonnage proposition” — something in the order of $42 per ton in gross value in nickel and copper.

Cominco produces less zinc

In a move designed to help correct the surplus supply of world zinc and reduce its own large unsold stocks, Consolidated Mining & Smelting Co. (Cominco) has announced a 25% cut in production. That means a reduction of 130 tons of slab zinc daily.

Some 200 men will be dropped, on top of the 300 let out in the spring from various operations. Cominco had 8,800 employees on the payroll at the beginning of this year.

Strike ends at Hollinger

Hollinger Consolidated Gold Mines and the United Steel Workers of America have settled an illegal strike that closed the company’s mine in Timmins, Ont., three months ago.

There will be an across-the-board wage increase of 5 cents per hour or 1.5 cents more than the company’s original offer. The contract runs for 18 months.

Reopening the mine will take time, and some men will not be hired again for three or four months. The union says it will support workers in the meantime.

Blind River sees action

With at least 20 diamond drills in operation, and the likelihood that more will be starting over the next few months, it is quickly becoming apparent that the Blind River-Espanola-Sudbury area is in for an extended period of intensive exploration.

The widespread occurrence and the nature of the uranium indications along a belt of country stretching 100 miles across the north shore of Lake Huron have aroused the interest of geologists and mining people. Results to date point to the possibility of a large-tonnage uranium field.