From Mother Earth to Mining the Rock

After 10 years of drilling and mine exploration, the International Nickel Company (Vale Inco) hit the mother lode in 1956. Inco brought armies of workers and mountains of equipment over frozen lakes and muskeg to sink mine shafts and build enormous processing plants to transform ore into 99.9 % nickel. Inco helped build a modern community and handed over key infrastructure to local authorities. Vale Inco is well on its way to producing its fi ve billionth pound of nickel, a versatile metal used in everything from automobiles and airplanes to hospital operating rooms and kitchen sinks. More nickel ore reserves are still being discovered. It all started in the Thompson Nickel Belt region.

This fascinating ROCK OUTCROP here is a two billion year-old hard, brittle, banded mylonitic gneiss that is part of the Thompson Nickel Belt.

Funding received from Vale Inco