Mining in Manitoba
Flin Flon Mining Area
History of the Flin Flon Area
The large base metal industry in Manitoba began in 1914, when a local Indian, David Collins, showed Thomas Creighton a mineralized outcrop near what is now Flin Flon. Creighton and John Moshner returned in 1915 to stake 16 claims over the showings, one of which was called Flin Flon.
The colourful name was taken from the hero of a novel the team had brought with them - Flintabbety Flonatin.
In October of 1915, Sidney Reynolds and Fred Jackson discovered the Mandy deposit, 5.6 km to the southeast. In 1916, the first diamond drilling in Northern Manitoba outlined a 22,675 tonne orebody with 20% Cu. Mining began in 1916. Operations ceased in 1919.
In 1927, Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting (HBM&S) set up a pilot mill near the Creighton discovery. This later became the Flin Flon Mine. The railway reached Flin Flon in 1928, and in 1930 the first blister copper and zinc was produced. In 1937 operations went underground when 2 shafts were sunk 1.6 km apart.
The large capital investment by HBM&S in the late 1920's for rail, mine, smelter, refinery and a hydro-electric plant laid the groundwork for opening up the prolific Flin Flon-Snow Lake belt and, later, the Lynn Lake belt to the north. Small satellite deposits were brought on stream between 1948 and 1960 at Cuprus, North Star, Don Juan, and Schist Lake.