Burchell Lake

History

Nearly a decade before the CPR traversed the north-western district of Ontario, prospectors already discovered the glint of gold and copper. Well known as early as the 1870s, was that high-grade copper existed by the shores of Burchell Lake. Unfortunately the site’s isolation proved far too unfavourable for development.

With the advent of a rail link, through the charter of the Ontario & Rainy River Railway in 1902, the New York and Canadian Copper Company Ltd. finally established the Tip-Top mine in that same year. That December they completed an O&RR rail link just a few miles north of the mine. The railway pushed through an arduous trail allowing passage to the Kashabowie station. Shortly afterwards they built a narrow gauge railway leading to the mine site.

By the following year (1903) the Tip-Top Mine was operational and produced a respectable 768,000 lbs. of copper, valued at $30,720. However the deposit was elusive. During 1906-07, they only mined 72,000 lbs. valued at a mere $7,200. The company quickly suspended operations until copper prices improved. With the commencement of the First World War, copper prices had once again increased dramatically and in 1916 the Tip-Top resumed operations. In its first year it produced 56,000 lbs. of copper, however the following year it boosted production by extracting over 420,512 lbs. of copper, worth $84,677. However uncertain ore reserves coupled with spiralling inflation, caused by the war, forced the firm the Tip-Top to suspend operations permanently in 1918. The copper prices plunged in 1919, indefinitely shattering the hopes of reopening the mine.

Two decades later, during the Second World War, a vital need for iron, copper, and nickel prompted a few companies to explore the area. In 1942, the Frobisher Exploration Company Limited extensively surveyed and drilled the old Tip-Top Mine. The following year, they uncovered an ore body containing at least one million tons, graded at an average of two per cent copper. Unfortunately, they never developed the property beyond that.

Coldstream Copper Mines purchased the property following an upsurge in copper prices, this time from the Korean War. From 1954-57, the firm sunk a three-compartment shaft, erected the shaft house, and mill complex. They staged construction from the Kashabowie station on the Canadian National Railway. The construction of Highway 802 by the provincial government helped facilitate further development. In June 1957 the mine officially began production, and the mill began to process 1000 tons of ore daily. In February 1958, the company was in financial difficulty and temporarily ceased operations. During its brief eight months of operations the firm had produced nearly 4.5 million lbs. The following year they reorganized the company as the North Coldstream Mines Ltd. with increased working capital. Burchell Lake was about to enter its glory years.

As early as 1956 the CML had approached the government about developing a townsite for its employees. Initially two other mines in the area had also submitted requests for townsites, one of which included plans for housing over 1,400 employees close to Burchell Lake. However by 1957, only CML still showed interest in developing the townsite. Accordingly the provincial government granted the company the right to incorporate a community for 250 employees entirely within the mine’s boundaries.

In 1959 work was underway on the construction of nearly 30 homes, a large bunkhouse, and a managerial townsite at the mine site itself a quarter mile away. They added additional to bring about some form of an urban setting. Those included a two-room school, a BA service station and Koski’s General Store. A post office opened in 1961. Recreation facilities included a baseball diamond, doubling as an ice rink in the winter and of course a baseball field. In 1960 production resumed at the mine and within a year 331 residents called Burchell Lake home. Within two years the population grew to surpass to 400 residents. As additional housing demands increased the company added mobile homes to the townsite.

After the firm’s recapitalization and a resumption of operations in 1960 the mine was ready for large scale production again. In March of the same year they deepened the shaft to 1400 feet and opened nine levels. Production steadily increased and by year’s end they mined nearly 11,500,000 pounds of copper establishing a company record.

With ample ore reserves, coupled with a steadily rising price for the commodity, North Coldstream’s was in an enviable position. In 1966 however the company’s fortunes had changed drastically. The mine’s proven ore reserves quickly eroded as the average rich copper grades soon began to falter. Shortly afterwards copper prices also began to plummet and North Coldstream’s ore reserves proved barely adequate. The company found itself in a serious financial dilemma. In August 1967 they shut the mine down permanently. The firm closed its books with a handsome profit at hand and wound up its affairs. Seeing no prospective buyers for the mine or townsite the company simply walked away.

Eventually they found a taker for the townsite. What followed was extensive salvaging and rehabilitation of the management homes. Now they are handsome summer cottages. However like the mine, they left the workers’ homes to decay silently. Over a decade ago, the provincial government ordered a cleanup of the mine site. They removed the mine buildings and performed extensive rehabilitation on the site. However to this day, padlocked behind a rusty fence, sit the empty bungalows, the ghosts of a bygone era.

In its life time the Burchell Lake Mine hoisted 2,728,000 tons of ore, totalling 102,300,000 lbs. of copper, along with trace amounts of gold and silver, worth over $34,430,000.