Mining activity up in southeastern Continued from page 1 and Midway Mines are being opened up. Coal mining is the back- bone of the economy in the Fernie, Elkford and Crows- nest areas, Kaiser Resources and Fording Coal being the biggest producers, At the present time, most of the coal mined in B.C. comes from Fort Steele Mining Division. In 1978 coal production value for the province amounted to $381 million. Crowsnest Re- sources did considerable de- velopment on their Line Creek Mine. Trail Creek and Green- wood Mining Divisions were the scene of many explor- ation projects, Grenoble En- ergy, Detonia and Mundee Mines all carried out drilling programs on their respective claims in 1980, There is a tale in itself that will probably be written elsewhere in this paper regarding Trail Smel- ter modernization. : Placer mining has never been as great in this area as in some of the better-known placer diggings such as Bar- kerville and Atlin. However, with high gold prices, many are working the better- known creeks and rivers once again such as Wild Horse River, Moyie River, Perry Creek, Pend d’Orielle River, Salmo River, Hall Creek, near Nelson, Hall Creek- Duncan River, Lardeau Monte Carlo Castlegar has seen rapid growth in recent years in the development of its public services. The Monte Carlo Motor Inn was one of the first to start the trend when it opened its doors to the public in 1979. Everyone of its 48 air conditioned rooms has a beautiful view of the local terrain and if you ever get tired of that, each room is equipped with a color TV. It is still the only Motor Hotel in the Trail, Nelson, Castle- gar, area with a heated in- door swimming pool and it is always kept crystal clear and at just the right temper- ature, JThe pool is used by guests only as Vincent Cooke re- ceives enough inquiries to keep the pool open for nearly every waking hour. The only + non-guests to use the pool are a chaperoned group of men- © tally handicapped children and people with a doctors certificate who use the pool for therapy. Vincent Cooke took over the management of the Monte Carlo in July 1980, and his wife and Monette Tellier their “family relationship” in the management of the busi- ness and their rapport with employees. All of the em- ployees have been working with Vince since day one and each member takes pride in their role at the Monte Carlo, Creek, French Creek, Mc- Culloch Creek, Boundary Creek, Rock Creek, ete. Industrial minerals pro- vide many jobs in southeast B.C. All the barite Production in the province comes from Golden Mining -Division. Quartz and dolomite granules come from Grand Forks and Sirdar, Nelson Mining Div- ision being the biggest pro- ducer in the province. ‘The Golden area produces considerable gypsum. The colorful quartzite facing stone from the Sheep Creek and Ymir areas is much in demand allover the conti- nent. The Kootenay Stone Centre south of Salmo em- ploys 10 full-time employees began trend Cookes’ sons, Tim. and Shawn, are valuable staff members as well, giving re- Wef at the front desk and keeping the motel in tip top shape. The “family relationship” at the Motor Inn does not. and 10 part-time. Gerex . Enterprises of Nelson is also building up quite a business as are other suppliers, In summary, I would like to point out that it is almost impossible to give any more than a brief mention of some of the exploration and mining projects underway in south- east B.C, in 1980. It wil! be months before all this data can be accumulated, detailed and added up to give a comparison with former’ years. Once a mine is operating it is possible to arrive ats value of what it means to the local people in wages, standard of living, ete. The exact value of explor- pertain to direct family mem- bers but to the entire staff. This atmosphere makes prob- lem solving easier because no one feels that they are being accused of minor problems which happen, but feel free to talk _ openly. rid sats janagel Cook Moneite Tellier‘ot the Monte-Carlo Motor Inn. Home of the ation neyer becomes known, Many of the exploration pro- grams are started by pros- pectors and small miners and leasers, who, without finan- cial backing, cannot carry development beyond a:pre- Uminary stage, at which point they option their claims to an exploration company if they can. Option agreements vary considerably. Assessment work has to be recorded each year and may consist of road or trail work, trenching . or’ underground mining, sampling, diamond drilling, geochemical soil and silt sampling, geophysical surveys either airborne or on the ground consisting of magnetometer, electro mag- netic, induced polarization, self-potential etc.: The Mining Recorder charges a company or pros- pector for recording work, filing bills of sale, and stat- utory declarations, grouping claims, recording : claims, abandoning claims, and .for buying a Free Miners Certi- ficate so that the provincial government is daly OK out of at this. There are seven mining divisions in the Kootenays. Asanexample here are some figures for the Nelson Mining Division alone in 1980: Value of work recorded — $378,100. Number of claim units taken or applied for — 1,831. State- ments of Exploration and Development — 119. Bills of Sale — 71.0 Once a mine goes . into production it pays a higher rate of taxation than does any other industry. © Hotels, motels, restaur- ants, grocery and hardware” stores, service stations, equipment suppliers and rental agencies, helicopters, diamond drillers, miners, Ia- borers, students, etc. all ben- efit from this exploration and mining activity. It is to be hoped that several good mines will re- sult from be 1980 explor- ation progra: Theeughout “the above, names of individuals have B.C. bésn left out in the interest of brevity. The main purpose of the article is to show .the., general public that explor- ation, development and-min- ing are in full swing in the\: southern interior and. that.- the future Jooks : bright .as long as metal prices remain.” viable and our various, gov- > ernments do -not get too: greedy with over-taxation or kill incentive with too many unnecessary regulations, « Farmers, Ranchers, Businessmen, ‘buyers ‘and Contractors ... See ee oa eect detale Dy i and a hundred oll ; itive bidding aagurea you © Good price for a your assets, but..... ‘ FOR THE MOST IMPORTANT SALE OF YOUR LIFE ~ Choose a licensed and bonded full ~ time AUCTIONEER. i ponte ‘ss + B.C.E Alt ROOK, B.C 2 CRAI “ub + Weon2e 5500 Blue Blazers Are They? The chances ‘are pe that ‘ou ha bee i ber teeta Tobi fow ml n seeing more REALTY WORLD blazers around What the Blue Blazer means toy you: local REALTY WORLD member ond sales associate bs b uccessful international organization, offering you: “Professionally trained soles le with © a thorough knowledge of yourared: - The oxclus ve “'Real-Scope” sysiem —_—a jacked by all the resources of a : @ Greater market exposure through our international raterral ‘system and MLS services, FOCUS: The Kootenays KI The following ,is. reprinted from Com- merce B.C, “Kootenay country — land- locked in-the ruggedly spec- tacular valley-scapo of south- eastern British Columbia — is the image of near-isolation to many inhabitants of the * province's lower mainland, But, that image of isolation is far more fixed in the minds of those within a.couple of hundred miles of this sud- denly dynamic region than it is for the reat of the world. . The planet has ‘beaten’ a path (the temptation is to say ‘trail') to the Kootenays. Japanese and: Korean steel- men well know how to find the highest grade, most. abundant deposits of coking coal in the western world. Metallurgical engineers from the Soviet Union or the United Kingdom know where togotostudy the state of the art in hydraulic underground mining: Smelter technolo- gists from Thailand to Bul- garia know where tosend the’ most complex ore combin- ations for breakdown. Aero- . space selentists from Hous- ton know where to go for the purest possible refined gold components for their lunar missions. vIt’s safe to say that the location’ of Trail, Kimberley — even Sparwood — is better known internationally than is Vietoria. For’ many Euro- peans, the era of Canadian supremacy on the hockey rink ended when teams from ‘Trail and Kimberley no tong- er took home the World Cup on a regular basis. So, ‘although ‘mega-buck coal deals and quasi-public ownership of Kaiser Re- sources have pushed the re- gion onto the front pages of Vancouver ‘newspapers late- ly, residents’ of the Koat- enays have long been accus- tomed to playing their roles , on the world stage, tolerating their hill-billy, coal: miner image at home with (gener- ally) good-natured bemuse-~ ( rece? tons ‘of, chemical fertilizer; 700 tons of zine; 600 tons of lead; and in some'25 thou- sand ounces of silver PER DAY. The electric’ power re- quired to generate this level of production (more than «sufficient to look! after the “needs of a city of 260,000 people) is produced by. five Cominco-owned hydro elec- tric plants.on the Kootenay and’ Pend Oreille:: Rivers, Stirplus power is sold to B.C. Byars and” exported to the Mineral production in the Kootennys goes back to the very early days of provincial history. Hudson's’ Bay Com- pany employees were taking gold from West Kootenay. ereek beds at the mid-point of the 19th century {according to some authorities, the first gold discoveries on the main- “fand of British Columbia). More than 100 years ago, gold prospectors in the East Kootenays, were disap- pointed to keep running into coal deposits: in their search for richer ores, However, the steam locomotive: and: the coal stoves of frontier house- wives made large-scale coal mining in:the Crows Nest’ area viable before the turn of the century. - 7 Schneider's Building Sup- plies Ltd. has been serving - the Kootenays for. over. 19° years. One of their more recent ° (approximately two years) acquisitions is their ware- house. | ‘ Located on, the Waneta , Re., (approximately 6 km . Coal: production ‘dwindled with the advent of the diesel locomotive and the decline of - coal-fires stoves .and ° fur-° naces, and the two decades following the second World” ‘War witnessed the closing of many colleries and layoffs in others, It wasn't until the late ‘608. ‘that ‘an increagingly energy- - short world remembered the" vast storshouse on, or under, ithe ridges and valleys in'the extreme southeastern corner Kootenaye. Meanwhile, mineral - acti- -vity in the .West Kootenays had ‘avoided such dramatic surges of fortune. Gold-cop-" per ore had been discovered in Red Mountain in 1890, - prompting the building of Rossland at the mountain’s base.- Within five years the region's: first. smelter was the. at Trail Creek Lai were. : loaded 7 onto’. water transport: for shipment down the Columbia’ River.’ ::.'; * he smelter and a railroad - : running front Rossland to the present city of Trail’ were purchased “by, Canadian. Pa- cific’ Railway .in' 1893, cP. ! began refining lead-silver ore ; 32,000 s $4. ff, ststerage space south of the Waneta Junc- : tion, towards the dam)’ the“ Schneider Warehouse boasts. | $2,000 sq. ft. of storage space: Jar; buil spacious executive from’ mines in the Slocan | ‘region’ coincident with the first signals of depletion in copper and gold ore bodes. on Red Mountain. » ‘The shift in’ smelting em- phasis was ‘given a healthy. boost ‘by the: first. in :the series of technological break. throughs’ destined.to. put Trail: ‘prominently on’ the world* mineral map. *. This j‘Mnnovation was a method of ‘refining lead by electrolysis {developed by. an ingenious American inventor,’ and >in 1901: the ‘Trail smelter -be- “came the first electrolytic lead refinery inthe world, Within 12 months, metal- lurgists . at Trail: were‘ -re- fining silver by use of..the same technique and the fu-. ture of the West Kootensys. was assur , In 1906 the “Trail smelter, brought employment to three “more area people’ and seven at Chelate, NOW OPEN! 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