Garson Mine is an
underground 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 ...
mine
Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to:
Extraction or digging
*Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging
*Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine
Grammar
*Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun
M ...
located in the community of
Garson, within the city of
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 ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
. Part of 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 ...
, the Garson mine was developed around 1908 by
Mond Nickel Company
The Mond Nickel Company Limited was a United Kingdom-based mining company, formed on September 20, 1900, licensed in Canada to carry on business in the province of Ontario, from October 16, 1900. The firm was founded by Ludwig Mond (1839–1909) ...
,
[ and is now owned by ]Vale 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 ...
.
Garson Ramp Project
In 2007 Vale Inco approved a plan to re-open the Garson Ramp. The project is in the development phase and will cost $30 million. The Garson Ramp project will involve three ore bodies and produce 500 tonnes of ore per day.
Ground Conditions
The ground conditions at Garson Mine are dangerous and unstable. Workers have lost their lives due to unstable ground conditions at Garson Mine and these conditions continue to be a problem for operations. A rock burst
A rock burst is a spontaneous, violent failure of rock that can occur in high-stress mines. Although mines may experience many mining-related seismic events, only the tremors associated with damage to accessible mine workings are classified as r ...
at the mine left nine workers trapped underground for several hours on January 23, 2007, although they were rescued with no injuries.
The unsafe ground conditions at Garson Mine are caused from a combination of variables, the two most prominent being that the mine is on a dyke and aquifer
An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing material, consisting of permeability (Earth sciences), permeable or fractured rock, or of unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or silt). Aquifers vary greatly in their characteristics. The s ...
.
Safety
In 2005 Garson Mine won the CIM's National John T. Ryan Trophy for Metal Mines. This award is given to the metal mine which has the lowest accident frequency in the country.[
]
See also
*List of mines in Ontario
This is a list of mines in the Canadian province of Ontario and includes both operating and closed mines.
*Adams Mine
*Agnew Lake Mine
*Amalgamated Larder Mine
*Argonaut Mine
*Armistice Mine
*Associated Goldfields Mine
*Barber Larder Mine
*Barto ...
References
{{reflist
Mines in Greater Sudbury
Nickel mines in Canada
Underground mines in Canada
Vale S.A.