The timing of my first column in a new, intermittent series examining mining personalities and major discoveries is auspicious for several reasons. From the Ground Up, the authorized biography of Viol…
The first time I met Harry Ferderber was in Cuba in the late 1970s. At the time, he was a well-known figure in the island country, and with his dark looks and thick black moustache, he resembled the M…
Years ago, I had a small, happy-go-lucky crew prospecting for lead and zinc near the village of Five Islands, on the north shore of Minas Basin in Nova Scotia. The mood of the crew changed, however, w…
The Pronto mine proved to be an integral and necessary chapter of the Elliot Lake story. Because of the mine’s relatively small-sized orebody and location, it was quickly overshadowed by the larger an…
Among the movers and shakers of Elliot Lake were three men who have generally been underacknowledged. The roles they played were important, but their overall involvement was limited in comparison with…
Without the foresight, initiative and leadership of Franc Joubin (1911-1997), the mines of Elliot Lake, Ont., might never have come about.Joubin was one of the most outstanding explorers in North Amer…
All the previously discussed pioneers with streets named after them in Elliot Lake either worked for or were associated with Technical Mine Consultants, Preston East Dome or Consolidated Denison. Dr. …
William Bouck was a low-key but influential lawyer, who tended to work behind the scenes. I can remember him being in the Elliot Lake and Blind River area of Ontario only once — at the opening ceremo…
In earlier columns, I referred to the Preston East Dome team and Technical Mine Consultants (TMC), which were both controlled by Joseph Hirshhorn (1899-1981). The so-called Preston East Dome team cons…
In the mid-1950s, during the Elliot Lake city planning sessions, a committee was formed and chaired by Franc Joubin (1911-1997). I was stationed at Joubin’s Technical Mine Consultants headquarters in …
The evolution of Elliot Lake, Ont. — from a logging and fur-trapping centre in the early 1900s to the uranium capital of the world in the 1950s and 1960s, and then to its present status as one of mos…
The name “Quemont” evokes many memories for me. The Quebec property is immediately north of the big Noranda Mines discovery that put Rouyn-Noranda on the mining map. However, according to experts at t…
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