In 1890 Vermillion Mining Company was sold the likes of Ritchie and Connell who were behind Canadian Copper Company. CCC then explored the gold mine on and off until 1917 when it was closed down.
The Little Vermillion Lake Mine operation, as some call it, was located on the south side of Vermillion Lake. It was discovered in 1929 by diamond drillers ( probably Errington and Sudbury Diamond Drilling ). On the surface a mill was constructed along with a flotation plant. The ore body itself was located beneath the lake. That mine also ceased operating in 1931. Interestingly enough, the Little Vermillion Lake mine was located in Fairbanks township around Lot 5 Concession 5 and across the lake from Joe Sauve and Eva Rheaume's property in concession 6.
The mine was again explored from about 1952 to 1957. It was then taken over by Giant Yellowknife Mines Ltd who explored it again in 1979 but never re opened it. The source of this info is linked above.
Joe Sauve was Eva Rheaume were married in 1904 in Chelmsford. She was the daughter of Timothee Rheaume and Melina Massie ( Massey sometimes ). Tim and Melina had a property nearer to the Stobie Falls where the Errington mine and the town of Platinum went up and then went down when all of the houses were sold and moved away. Rosario Rheaume was just across the Whitson Creek near Stobie Falls which was dammed from the beginning; hence Stobie Dam.
Tim and Melina were also connected to the Bradley clan when their daughter Rose married Isaac the son of Nathaniel Bradley who was one of the first pioneers in Chelmsford.
Shaft 1 of the Errington mine was located in the Sudbury District Creighton Township on the north half of Lot 9 ( town of Platinum 1926 ), Concession 6. Shaft 3 was located in Balfour Township Lot 4 Concession 1 ( town of Bradley ). Shaft 2 was located next to Rosario Rheaume's house on Concession 6 Lot 8 of Creighton Township. Alphonse Ollier was for a time a lodger in Rosario's home. The Errington mine in 1927-28 was powered by electricity supplied by a private utility line. The mine had a 250 tonne pilot concentrating mill.
The mining operation probably looked like the place shown in this video about pilot milling.
Everything was shut down in 1931 and in 1952 some exploration resumed. Joseph Errington had passed away in 1942.
David McKay in Why Mining states that the Number 1 shaft, B 1 shaft of Errington mine as he puts it, was the first shaft to be block caved ( B = block caving ). The B 2 shaft came later and was accessed from Errington B 1 probably for tax reasons. However McKay is talking about the Errington mine at Steep Rock Lake which was also being explored in the 1950's.
Another Errington mine, formerly the Steep Rock Lake mine, was located in the east part of the Freeborn township of the Rainy River district.
Massey mine was located in Sudbury District Salter township on the SE 1/4 if section 16 and the SW 1/4 of section 15.
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It isn't conspiracy....it is just the way the game of life is played. Some people are better at building big corporate enterprises than others.
There were plenty of small sawmills in the area in the beginning but the co-ops came along and took control. The poor prospector sold his claims to the bigger players. The cheese factories sold out or folded when the big guys bought all the local milk and so on and so forth....somewhere in all of this the politicians in a democratic society is supposed to protect us from falling to far to the right or to far to the left.
But are they succeeding or are we just becoming what we were always struggling to avoid. We were trying to avoid being manipulated into being just slaves or just servants. The story behind these mines is the story of life. It is a story of power and monopoly.
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