Cuniptau Mines (a combination of the symbols Cu, Ni, Pt and Au) was a Canadian

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...

company from 1933 to 1937. It was incorporated in December 1933 under the leadership of B. W. Watkins with its headquarters based in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

. The company was engaged in development of the Cuniptau Mine, a

polymetallic In chemistry or mining, polymetal or polymetallic is a substance composed of a combination of different metals. When the substance contains only two metals the term ''bimetal'' (''bimetallic'') is sometimes preferred. A (or ') is an ore that ...

ore Ore is natural rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically containing metals, that can be mined, treated and sold at a profit.Encyclopædia Britannica. "Ore". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 7 April ...

deposit in

Strathy Township Strathy Township is a square-shaped geographic township comprising a portion of the municipality of Temagami in Northeastern Ontario, Canada. It is used for geographic purposes, such as land surveying and natural resource explorations. At least fou ...

Northeastern Ontario Northeastern Ontario is a secondary region of Northern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario, which lies north of Lake Huron and east of Lake Superior. Northeastern Ontario consists of the districts of Algoma District, Ontario, Algoma, Sudb ...

. In later years Cuniptau Mines also acquired the Alexo Mine property in Clergue and Dundonald

townships A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

Cochrane District Cochrane District is a district and census division in Northeastern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. It was created in 1921 from parts of Timiskaming and Thunder Bay districts. In 2016, the population was 79,682. The land area of thi ...

History and operations

Development of the Cuniptau Mine began in 1933 with the sinking of a

shaft Shaft may refer to: Rotating machine elements * Shaft (mechanical engineering), a rotating machine element used to transmit power * Line shaft, a power transmission system * Drive shaft, a shaft for transferring torque * Axle, a shaft around wh ...

and

underground Underground most commonly refers to: * Subterranea (geography), the regions beneath the surface of the Earth Underground may also refer to: Places * The Underground (Boston), a music club in the Allston neighborhood of Boston * The Underground ( ...

drifting Drifting may refer to: *Drifting (motorsport) *Pipe drift or drifting, measuring a pipe's inner roundness Film * ''Drifting'' (1923 film), a film directed by Tod Browning * ''Drifting'' (1982 film), the first Israeli gay-themed film * ''Drifting'' ...

on the shaft level. This was followed by deepening of the shaft to , a new level established at , drifting, crosscutting and raising in 1934. Operations in 1935 were confined mostly to surface

mineral exploration Mining in the engineering discipline is the extraction of minerals from underneath, open pit, above or on the ground. Mining engineering is associated with many other disciplines, such as mineral processing, exploration, excavation, geology, and ...

. In 1936, the

smelter Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including silver, iron, copper, and other base metals. Smelting uses heat and a c ...

was rebuilt to test out the possibilities of making a suitable

matte Matte may refer to: Art * paint with a non-glossy finish. See diffuse reflection. * a framing element surrounding a painting or watercolor within the outer frame Film * Matte (filmmaking), filmmaking and video production technology * Matte pai ...

from the mined ore. High-grade

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica ( silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical ...

vein Veins are blood vessels in humans and most other animals that carry blood towards the heart. Most veins carry deoxygenated blood from the tissues back to the heart; exceptions are the pulmonary and umbilical veins, both of which carry oxygenate ...

material from the Cuniptau Silica Deposit in Best Township was used as

flux Flux describes any effect that appears to pass or travel (whether it actually moves or not) through a surface or substance. Flux is a concept in applied mathematics and vector calculus which has many applications to physics. For transport ...

for the ore smelting. Development of the Cuniptau Mine in 1936 consisted of underground drifting, crosscutting and raising, with exploration confined to surface and underground

diamond drilling Exploration diamond drilling is used in the mining industry to probe the contents of known ore deposits and potential sites. By withdrawing a small diameter core of rock from the orebody, geologists can analyze the core by chemical assay and con ...

. The mine office was stationed at Goward, a locality now in the municipality of

Temagami Temagami, formerly spelled as Timagami, is a municipality in northeastern Ontario, Canada, in the Nipissing District with Lake Temagami at its heart. The Temagami region is known as ''n'Daki Menan'', the homeland of the area's First Nations co ...

. Cuniptau Mines reopened the Alexo Mine near Porquis Junction in 1936. Operations at this mining property during the year consisted of partial

mine dewatering Mine dewatering is the action of removing groundwater from a mine. When a mine extends below the water table groundwater will, due to gravity, infiltrate the mine workings. On some projects groundwater is a minor impediment that can be dealt with on ...

and sampling. The company shipped two cars of ore from Alexo to the Cuniptau Mine to increase the nickel content of the material being smelted. On January 10, 1937, the

shareholder A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of a corporation is an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the legal ...

s of Cuniptau Mines ratified a proposal to merge the company with the newly formed Ontario Nickel Corporation. Ontario Nickel acquired the Cuniptau and Alexo mines in 1937 from this merge.

References

{{reflist, 30em Defunct mining companies of Canada Defunct companies of Ontario Companies based in Toronto Copper mining companies of Canada Nickel mining companies of Canada Gold mining companies of Canada Platinum mining companies Mining in Temagami

History and operations

See also

References