The Murray Mine is a defunct

nickel Nickel is a chemical element; it has symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive, but large pieces are slo ...

and

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

mine in

Greater Sudbury Sudbury, officially the City of Greater Sudbury, is the largest city in Northern Ontario by population, with a population of 166,004 at the 2021 Canadian Census. By land area, it is the largest in Ontario and the List of the largest cities and t ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. It was the site of the original ore discovery that led to the launch of mining operations in the

Sudbury Basin The Sudbury Basin (), also known as Sudbury Structure or the Sudbury Nickel Irruptive, is a major geology, geological structure in Ontario, Canada. It is among the oldest- and largest-known List of impact structures on Earth, impact structures ...

area. The Murray Mine was discovered in August 1883 by Thomas Flanagan, a blacksmith on the

CPR Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency procedure used during cardiac or respiratory arrest that involves chest compressions, often combined with artificial ventilation, to preserve brain function and maintain circulation until sp ...

construction gang. The property at Lot 11, Concession V, McKim Township, was patented to James Loghrin, Henry Abbott and

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

and William Murray in October 1884. They in turn sold it to Henry Hussey Vivian and Co. of

Swansea Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, who worked it from 1889 to 1894 when the mine was closed down. The British American Nickel Corporation (BANCo) purchased the property in 1912, sinking the shaft to a depth of 700 feet by the time the mine closed in August 1914. The mine reopened in August 1916 and dewatered, the shaft had been deepened to 1,075' by 1920. Murray Mine shut down in February 1921, in that period 277,484 tons of ore had been shipped. Reopening in 1923 the mine produced 267,535 tons before the mine again closed in July 1924 due to the liquidation of BANCo.{{cite news , url=https://www.sudburymuseums.ca/triangle/data/INCOTriangle-19900701.pdf

INCO Vale Canada Limited (formerly Vale Inco, CVRD Inco and Inco Limited; for corporate branding purposes simply known as "Vale" and pronounced in English) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Brazilian mining company Vale. Vale's nickel mining and ...

purchased the Murray Mine from the bondholders of the defunct BANCo in 1925. No. 2 Shaft was sunk between 1941 and 1943. Production was continuous from 1950 to 1971 when the mine was last worked. The Murray Mine site is located on Municipal Road 35 between Godfrey Road and Azilda. A historical plaque commemorates the site.

References

See also