While Vancouver Island
is most commonly associated with the resource-based industries of forestry and
fishing, the island also has a strong and deep history of mining.
Just this January, the
last working coal mine on Vancouver Island closed down for an indefinite period
of time. The Quinsam Coal Mine in Campbell River was shut down in the face of
changing global economies and a decline in the demand for coal. Its closure
marks the final end of an important part of Vancouver Island’s history.
Coal mining began on
the island (and surrounding islands) in the 1800s, with the discovery of coal
in the Nanaimo region. This initial discovery was facilitated by local First
Nations, who noticed the coal that Hudson’s Bay Company employees used and
offered the information that coal was available locally.
Mining jobs brought
many people to the island and particularly areas of Nanaimo and Victoria were
built upon the success of prominent mining families.
Mining became big
business, first coal and then metals. The island is marked by the industry,
with both small, abandoned mine sites and large decommissioned mine sites. Myra
Mines, operating in Strathcona Park on central Vancouver Island, was the last
of the large mineral mines to cease operations, with the mine being put on an
indefinite shut-down in 2015. The ownership cites a downturn in global
commodity prices for the shut-down, although the mine is not considered closed and
keeps a skeleton crew on site to maintain environmental and safety standards.
There are still
individual mine claims throughout the back country of Vancouver Island as well
as on the smaller islands. Whether any of these are active is hard to determine.
There are also still people who pan in the local rivers, hoping to find a gold
nugget or two.
Properties that come
up for sale in the more remote areas of the islands can be impacted by a mining
background. Some may be actual mine sites, such as the property for sale near
Benson River outside Port Alice. Others, such as the Quartz Bay property on
Cortes Island, are at least partially made up of old mining claims.
Hatley and
Cragidarroch Castles, the community of Cumberland, Newcastle Island, the IslandCopper Mine outside of Port Hardy, small mining relics and tailings piles,
unused mining claims, the numerous dams around Nanaimo – all of these are part
of the legacy mining has created in Vancouver Island.
It’s a Coastal Lifestyle
… Live it!
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