SULLIVAN
MINE CLOSURE: An invitation to geologists from around the world to mine the
last blocks of folded, banded Sullivan zinc ore.
After
roughly a century since first production, the Sullivan Mine in British Columbia will finally close
at the end of this year. To help mark
the occasion, we are having a geological meeting in Kimberley on November 9th
and 10th. This letter
constitutes a first circular for the meeting.
We
are planning a day of talks on the Friday and mine tours on the Saturday. Dr. H.C. (Hugh) Morris and Dr. F.R. (Rob)
Edmunds, two well-known former employees of Cominco at Sullivan, are organizing
the talks, which will comprise a mixture of reminiscences and current synopses
of the science that has come out of government, university and our own work
over many years.
The
tours on Saturday will comprise underground and surface visits at the mine, as
well as unstructured time at a poster session/chat room in downtown
Kimberley. Although there is not a lot
left to see underground, mine management are going all out to make this last
opportunity to collect samples of folded Sullivan ore as valuable as possible
for the maximum 180 geologists we can accommodate underground that day. Fresh material will be blasted off the wall
of a drift through bedded ore in a shaft pillar on 3600 level, and left on the
floor for collecting.
Naturally,
there is no registration fee for this meeting.
Also, we have block booked some hotels at favourable rates. However, to help us plan some of the events,
we seek an expression of interest at this time. The second circular will provide more details, including hotel
costs, and a registration form. If you
would like to receive it, or know of a colleague who would, please send either
an email or a postal address to Helen Augustin at helen.augustin@cominco.com
or the above address.
We
hope you can help us mark this milestone in the many decades of geological and
exploration work in and around the Sullivan orebody.
John M. Hamilton,
Manager, Acquisition Evaluations