Simpson Copper Mineshaft

Simpson Mine - Bruce Mines Museum

Useful Information

Location:	Bruce Mines, 60 km east of Sault Ste. Marie.
Open:	Simpson Mine: MAY to JUN after appointment. JUL to AUG daily. SEP after appointment. Bruce Mines Museum: MAY to JUN Mon-Fri 10-17. JUL to AUG daily 10-17. SEP Mon-Fri 10-17. [2008]
Fee:	Simpson Mine: Adults CAD 2, Students CAD 1, Family CAD 5. Bruce Mines Museum: Adults CAD 2, Students CAD 1, Seniors CAD 1, Family CAD 5. [2008]
Classification:	Copper Mine
Light:	electric.
Dimension:
Guided tours:	D=30min.
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address:	Simpson Copper Mineshaft, Bruce Mines, Tel: +1-705.785-3493. Bruce Mines Museum, 75 Taylor Street, Bruce Mines, Tel: +1-705-785-3426, Fax: +1-705-785-3170.
Last update:	$Date: 2011/12/13 08:44:18 $

History


1846		town founded and named after James Bruce, the first Governor of the Province of Canada and the eighth Earl of Elgin.
1847		begin of copper mining.
1848		Simpson Mine shaft opened.
1849		Simpson Mine closed.
1876		end of coppper mining.
1992		restored Simpson Mine shaft opened to the public.

Geology

The copper in the area is found along veins of white quartz, surrounded by black diabase. The green stain along the quartz veins is malachite, a copper mineral. Other minerals are bornite, which contains 80% copper, native copper, chalcopyrite (35% copper), and chalcocite (80% copper).

Description

The village Bruce Mines is home to Canada's first successful copper mine. So actually Bruce Mines is the name of the village, the individual mines have their own names. Many of the first residents were Cornish miners, which immigrated from England to work in the mines.

One of the mines is open for the public, it is the Simpson Mine Shaft. A guided tour is offered through a section of the original mine shaft. There are reconstructed buildings like the horse whim and the assay office where the ore was graded and tested. A small exhibition shows mining equipment and mineral displays. Outdoors is a display of more recent mining machinery.

Simpson Mine was opened for the chalcocite and bornite, which contains about 80% of copper. But they were found only in the first 3m of the mine, then the vein switched to chalcopyrite with only 35% copper. They did not refine the ore on site, it was shipped across the Atlantic for refining. With a loss of 5% in the processing the mining of low grade ore was not profitable and the mine was closed after only a year. At the end the shaft was 30m long and 15m deep. For the opening as a show mine, for safety reasons, the shaft was filled in to a depth of about 4m. A pumping system was installed to keep it dry.

In Taylor Street lies the Bruce Mines Museum, called church on the rock by the locals because it is located in a building which was once the Presbyterian Church, built in 1894. Later the building was used as post office and a school. In 1960 it became a museum. The museum houses over 7000 artifacts, including an unusual Yakaboo canoe. It is a local history museum showing all aspects of local life, but with a big amphasis of the mining history.