Smelters

SMELTERS are industrial facilities for processing mineral ores to extract metals. Over the years there have been close to 20 operating smelters in BC, though only 2 remain: the Teck COMINCO facility at TRAIL and the ALCAN ALUMINUM CO smelter at KITIMAT. The first smelters in the province were built in the 1880s—south of GOLDEN and in VANCOUVER—to process ores from the booming mining districts, but they ceased operation almost immediately, lacking the necessary supplies of ore, capital and skilled operators. Still, smelters were considered to be symbols of industrial progress and necessary adjuncts to the development of the MINING industry; by processing the ore locally they allowed BC to retain a greater share of the profits from its mineral wealth. The first profitable smelter was the Hall smelter, which went into operation early in 1896 at NELSON. The first enduring smelter was the Trail facility, built later in 1896 by the American mining promoter F.A. HEINZE to process ore from the mines at ROSSLAND. Under CPR–Cominco ownership it put the Hall smelter out of business and developed into one of BC's most important industrial sites. Following construction of the Trail smelter there was a flurry of smelter building lasting to WWI. In the BOUNDARY DISTRICT the Granby Company smelter at GRAND FORKS (1900–19) was for a time the largest copper smelter in the British Empire. Other short-lived smelters were built at GREENWOOD, ANACONDA and BOUNDARY FALLS. On the east side of KOOTENAY LK there was a smelter at PILOT BAY in 1895–96 processing ore from the Bluebell Mine at RIONDEL, and another farther east at MARYSVILLE (1903–08), now part of KIMBERLEY. On VANCOUVER ISLAND, Henry CROFT built a copper smelter to process ore from mines on nearby Mt SICKER (1901–08) and for a short time there was a facility at LADYSMITH. Other smelters were located at VAN ANDA on TEXADA ISLAND (1899–1919) and at ANYOX, north of PRINCE RUPERT (1912–35). With WWI the great era of smelter building drew to a close. The only facilities to go into operation subsequent to 1920 were the Alcan Aluminum smelter at Kitimat in the 1950s and a copper smelter associated with the Afton Mine southwest of KAMLOOPS (1977–97).