Rahn Lake deposit, Bannockburn Township, about 30 miles from Timmins, Ontario

The Rahn Lake deposit was a chrysotile deposit in Bannockburn Township, Ontario, which the U.S. Bureau of Mines' Minerals Yearbook placed "about 30 miles from Timmins," saying that "considerable interest was shown" in it and that "erection of a mill is contemplated."⁴ An Ontario Department of Mines circular of 1950, as Asbestos, the industry's trade journal, reported it, says that "in 1937 and 1939 Rahn Lakes Mines Corporation Limited produced 19 tons of chrysotile worth $970" from its property in Bannockburn township.³ The Minerals Yearbook gives a different account of 1939: "a test shipment of chrysotile comprising 18 tons valued at $720 was made in 1939."¹ The yearbook also reported that "activity has been renewed at the Rahn Lake deposit," with "initiation of milling on a small scale."¹

In June 1940 the trade journal wrote that Rahn Lake Mines Corporation Limited had "been operating a small asbestos deposit in the Province of Ontario" for several years, and that the Johnson's Company had agreed "to spend a substantial sum of money in the proper development of the ore body."² If the results proved encouraging, the article said, Johnson's "has agreed to purchase a substantial interest in the Rahn Lake Mines."² In February 1948 the trade journal reported that at the company's annual meeting a consulting engineer, H. H. Williams, recommended that "a number of test pits be opened at the company's property in the Matachewan area, so as to establish the amount of asbestos along the contacts."⁵

The documents report small or short-lived production of asbestos fiber for sale.³

Location

Output the documents report

Figures as printed, in the units each document uses (short tons before about 1990, metric tons after, in most U.S. chapters). Some are a year's output, some a daily rate or a capacity, some a company's total rather than this mine's alone; the statement for that year below says which.

Year by year

Every statement about this mine in the documents, in each document's own words, by the year it is about.

1935

• Exploration: “Considerable interest was shown in a chrysotile deposit in Bannockburn Township, about 30 miles from Timmins, Ontario, and erection of a mill is contemplated”, p. 5⁴

1937

• Output: “produced 19 tons of chrysotile worth $970” (Rahn Lakes Mines Corporation Limited), as reported by Asbestos (magazine), p. 22³

1939

• Worked: “Activity has been renewed at the Rahn Lake deposit, Bannockburn Township, Ontario”, p. 8¹
• Mill: “initiation of milling on a small scale at the Rahn Lake chrysotile deposit in Ontario, Canada”, p. 5¹
• Output: “A test shipment of chrysotile comprising 18 tons valued at $720 was made in 1939”, p. 8¹

1940

• Ownership: “If results are encouraging, Johnson's Company to purchase a substantial interest in the Rahn Lake Mines and form a new company” (Johnson's Company; Rahn Lake Mines Corporation Limited), p. 28²
• Worked: “Rahn Lake Mines Corporation Limited has been operating a small asbestos deposit in Ontario for several years” (Rahn Lake Mines Corporation Limited), p. 28²
• Exploration: “Johnson's Company agreed to spend a substantial sum on development of the ore body; E. S. McCarthy in charge” (Johnson's Company), p. 28²

1948

• Exploration: “recommended that during the winter a number of test pits be opened” (Rahn Lake Mines Corp.), p. 44⁵

Other names

Documents call this mine “Rahn Lake deposit”, “Bannockburn Township”, “Rahn Lakes Mines Corporation Limited property”, “Rahn Lake Mines Corp. property in the Matachewan area”.

References

1. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1940 (January 1, 1941), pp. 5, 8.
2. Asbestos Magazine, 1940, June 1940 (June 1, 1940), p. 28.
3. Asbestos Magazine, 1950, July 1950 (July 1, 1950), p. 22.
4. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1936 (January 1, 1937), p. 5.
5. Asbestos Magazine, 1948, February 1948 (February 1, 1948), p. 44.