Mining in this area dates back to the early 1900s
Property History
Mining in this area dates back to the early 1900s:
- Initial exploration at Copper Mountain dates back to 1884.
- In 1923, Granby Consolidated Mining, Smelting and Power Company (Granby) acquired the property, built a milling facility in Allenby adjacent to Princeton and extracted 31.5 million tonnes of ore with a grade of 1.08% copper, primarily from underground excavations, in, and below, what are now the Pit 1 and Pit 3 areas. Mining operations were suspended in 1957, partly due to low metal prices and partly due to transportation charges on the ore by the owners of the rail line.
- Newmont Mining Corporation of Canada (Newmont) purchased Granby's entire mining interest in the district and began mining from the Ingerbelle deposit in 1972. In 1979, development of mineable reserves on the Copper Mountain side of the project commenced with the installation of a new primary crusher and conveyer system. Initial production on the Copper Mountain side was from Pit 2 with additional production from Pit 3 in 1983. Mining of Pit 2 ceased in 1985.
- In 1988 Cassiar Mining Corporation (later to become Princeton Mining Corp.) purchased Similco Mines Ltd. which owned the property. Production continued mining from Pits 3 and 1 until the mine closed down in late 1993 and stayed on a "care and maintenance" basis until copper prices improved in mid 1994. Mining concentrated in the Ingerbelle pit and low grade stockpiles in 1995 and was again closed at the end of 1995. A lack of low strip ratio reserves, rising production costs and necessary capital expenditures resulted in the mine closing down in November of 1996.
