Copper

COPPER has been one of the most valuable minerals mined in BC since the beginning of the 20th century. In 2010 it was the second most valuable mineral produced in BC (after COAL), earning revenues of $1.4 billion. Active mines in 2011 include Myra Falls near CAMPBELL RIVER on VANCOUVER ISLAND, Mount Polley and Gibraltar near WILLIAMS LAKE, Huckleberry south of HOUSTON, Highland Valley north of MERRITT, Kemess just outside TATLATUI PROVINCIAL PARK in the northern Interior and Copper Mountain at Princeton. BC accounts for one third of Canada's annual copper production.

Copper mining began with discoveries in the BOUNDARY DISTRICT in the 1890s. The Granby Consolidated Mining, Smelting and Power Co operated the largest copper SMELTER in the British Empire at GRAND FORKS from 1900 to 1919, processing ore from mines at GREENWOOD, PHOENIX and MIDWAY. Thanks to production from these ore bodies, copper accounted for 35% of all minerals produced in BC by the beginning of WWI. At the end of the war, the centre of copper mining shifted to ANYOX up OBSERVATORY INLET on the North Coast, where the Granby company operated a mine and smelter until 1935; to BRITANNIA in HOWE SOUND, the most productive mine during the 1930s; and to COPPER MOUNTAIN near PRINCETON. Nevertheless, copper's share of the total value of mineral production began to decline during the 1930s and did not rally until the 1960s, with the beginning of a series of huge open-pit developments, including the Craigmont mine near Merritt (1961–82), the Brenda mine west of KELOWNA (1970–90), the ISLAND COPPER MINE near PORT HARDY (1971–95), the Gibraltar mine at McLEESE LAKE (1972–98, 2004–present) and the Lornex mine, now Highland Valley (1971–present), southeast of KAMLOOPS.