Gold

GOLD mining played an all-important role in the historical development of BC and remains a significant part of the modern MINING industry in the province. In 2010 revenue from gold production totalled $224 million. During the GOLD RUSH era of the 19th century, most gold was mined from surface deposits using placer methods. By 1900 placer mining had given way to lode mining, which requires extensive diggings. Gold is also produced as a by-product of other mineral production. BC is the third largest producer of gold in Canada after Ontario and Quebec.

Gold was first mined at Gold Harbour on the QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS by the HBC in 1851–52, though not in any significant quantity. More important, this discovery led to the extension of British sovereignty over the islands and the adoption of the first gold-mining regulations by the colonial government. It was the gold rushes on the FRASER R and in the CARIBOO in the late 1850s and 1860s that established gold mining as the cornerstone of the early BC economy. Subsequent rushes into the FORT STEELE (1863–66), Big Bend (1865–66), Omineca (1870–72) and CASSIAR (1870s) areas were less productive, but gold remained the most valuable mineral produced in the province until 1884. Later in the century, mining began at CAMP MCKINNEY (1887), the Bullion Pit Mine at LIKELY (1892), ATLIN (1898), HEDLEY (1899) and most significantly at the LeRoi, War Eagle and Centre Star mines near ROSSLAND, which produced about half of the gold mined in the province from 1900 to 1916. The development of industrial minerals such as copper and ZINC eclipsed the importance of precious metals after 1900, and production in BC more or less stabilized in the decade leading up to WWI. There was a second gold-mining boom during the 1930s; the most productive mines dating from this period were the BRALORNE and PIONEER mines in the BRIDGE R Valley, the Cariboo Gold Quartz Mine at WELLS and the Privateer Mine at ZEBALLOS. Lode gold production in BC peaked in 1939, then began another decline that continued to a low point in 1971. After that the sector rallied again, reaching production levels in the late 1990s that matched those of the heyday of the late 1930s. In 2010, producing mines included Myra Falls on VANCOUVER ISLAND and the Mount Polley and Kemess copper mines. The Eskay Creek mine north of STEWART closed in 2008.