Elliot Lake unveils monument

The wait for the Elliot Lake Mining Monument is over.

Locals commissioned local sculptor Laura Brown Breetvelt to create the monument in 2003, but funding delays kept pushing the project to the back-burner. In fact, Breetfelt only started working on the monument earlier this year.

The monument honours the memory of local miners who worked in Elliot Lake’s dozen uranium mines from the 1950s through to the 1990s.

To build the monument, Breetvelt used bronze, granite, metal screening, metal plating, B.C. fir and a sheave wheel. The choice of each element was significant. B.C. fir was traditionally used to shore up drifts and stopes; the granite represents the rock common in the area; the screening is used in mines to stabilize ceilings underground; the metal plates at the bottom of the granite columns are used on steel walkways; and a sheave wheel was once used to raise and lower cages.

The monument includes a miner with a young girl, which represent mining families and the community. Sculpting the two figures took about four months.

The monument includes an engraved map of the area.

The cost of the monument was $191,000, contributed mainly by four sources: $110,000 from the Elliot Lake Working Group, a $250-million fund aimed at helping the city grow and diversify; $48,000 from Rio Algom; and the balance was shared between the city and the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund.