Six metal storage cases containing primarily slides depicting drill core sections in wooden storage trays. Cases contain inventories of slide images as well as annotations which document the year, drill hole number, and the length along the drill hole from which core sections are taken. In addition to the documentation of drill core sections, the cases contain slides depicting the following subjects: “Representative samples” of drill core fragments, drill core fragments in perspective, “physical characteristics” of the drill cores and the storage trays, the pit mine, a worker in a plaid shirt, close up shots of the geology of the working face, and images annotated “SHOTS OF JADE BOULDER CORE J5-J1”. Five slides originally filed separately and stamp dated “Jul. ‘73” depict what is speculated to be employees working on the diamond drilling project include 2 images annotated ‘R. Dickin Aug ‘72’, ‘I. Oliver Aug ‘73’, ‘S. Zimmer Aug ‘73’, and ‘core shack ’73’. The cases contain 234 7x7cm slides and at least 8 5x5 cm slides which are duplicates of the remaining images. The file also contains a slide strip containing several 7x7 cm slide images.
Photographic negatives depict men on tour in unknown locations in Russia. Images depict urban areas, mining areas, construction of buildings, railway, mineral samples, and equipment including dump truck and electric shovel. Also includes images of area speculated to be a mine pit. Men on tour are dressed in formal attire.
Handwritten annotation in pencil on envelope containing negatives: "Russian 'Asbest' Mine Slides" "7 copies of each - 23 negatives - 161 prints".
The file contains eight photographs depicting close up images of three rock samples, some photographed with a ruler for scale. One of the rock samples is speculated to be obsidian and the other two are likely serpentine. The images where originally found in an envelope titled "ROCKS" and are likely dated around 1991.
Included in this file are an five photographs of rocks on a shelf, which may be asbestos sample rocks. There are five accompanying negatives to these photographs and are likely dated around 1977. The photographs and negatives were found in an envelope labelled "Negatives - CIMM Photos."
Additionally two negative strips of geology maps of Canada. These negatives were found in an envelope labelled "Negatives - CIMM Papers, Mining, Planning, Geology."
The file contains photographs originally found in an unmarked and undated black binder depicting colour-coded mill equipment and machinery. Several of these images are annotated “Bell”, “Bell Asbestos”, and “National”. It is speculated that these images originate from the underground asbestos mine in Thetford Mines, Quebec operated by Bell Asbestos Mines Ltd. and the National Mine in Quebec. One image appears to be, or looks similar to the new mill at Cassiar, built in 1971.
File contains set of images taken in Faro, Y.T. Annotation on photo envelope reads: “Visit to / CYPRUS ANVIL / FARO Y.T. / SEPT 1975 / BY DALE CARIN / R. WILSON.” Images depict the pit mine operated by Cyprus Anvil Corporation, including a grader, ore hauling truck (likely a Wabco), an explosives transport truck, and unidentified equipment including an electrical utility box and some type of rotating wheel in the mill building.
File contains photographs annotated Nordenham, presumably indicating that these images were taken in the Asbestos Corporation's plant in Nordenham Germany. The images depict bagging machinery in the mill, including a palletizer, automatic sewing machine, packer, shrinkwrap machine, glue applicator and cement bags. Some of the images include detailed annotations.
File contains photographs documenting the construction of Cassiar's new mill building. Photos depict early excavation, foundations, framework, construction of all seven stories, sheeting, siding, and roof tarring. Also included are photos depicting the large model of the mill, as well as construction work done on the tramline. Photos taken inside the mill depict flooring work, and milling machinery including feed chutes, screens, fans, wheelabrators, control panels, electrical panels, conveyor systems, vacuum systems, and the fan-driven air system that transported the fiber. Many photos depict construction workers, building supplies, worksites, and equipment including cranes, bulldozers, tractors, hauling trucks and trailer flatbeds. Some photos depict aerial views from the new mill and feature the plantsite, tramline, mine road, mountains, and valley.
This file includes two major photographic collections concerning the construction and development of the underground mine at Cassiar, title the McDame Project.
The first collection includes fifteen monthly progress reports documenting the development from July 1988 to December 1989. The progress reports are authored by G. Verret, and were distributed to the executives of Cassiar Asbestos in Vancouver as well officials of the B.C. Government and other creditors of the Corporation. Most images are annotated and dated. Many of the loose photographs are accompanied by an inventory sheet.
Subjects depicted include: the staging area prior to mine development, the initial development of the “Vent Portal”, a jumbo drill working on the mine face, the working face marked for drilling and wired with fuses, a Caterpillar dozer clearing snow after an avalanche, scene of a fire in winter time, complete conveyor sump decline, mining vehicle parked on the “Lay-Down Area” presumably near the portal, the working face of the mine at various stages of development, 1563 portal being slashed, the removal of the overburden for the tramline loading station site, the construction of the transfer tower(s), construction of the stockpile area, the construction of a sedimentation pond, a presumed cave in, construction of footings for the conveyor, construction of the tramline loading terminal station, construction of the crusher building, a slash titled “Breakthrough in Access Ramp”, storage of powder and fuses, a washout in conveyor decline, fog at the portal in -30 degrees Celsius, the 1290 junction flooded, a slab of shotcrete which fell on and injured a miner while shotcreting, shotcrete blasted off walls for repairs, images of the “Hilti-test”, shots showing grade of drift, and structural failures in the 1350 adit.
Locations and structure within the underground mine depicted include: yellow ventilation ducting, ground support including steel screen and shotcrete, steel cables bolted unto ground support, puddles in the adits, the access road to the lay-down area, the exhaust drift, “Fans and Heaters in the 1415 adit”, the 1350 sump, the access ramp to the 1320, the exhaust ramp safety bay, the conveyor decline, the ventilation adit, the 1563 portal, the temporary repair shop at the 1415 portal, junctions of various drifts, the ”Fresh Water Pump & Pumphouse on lower Creek”, the “Ventilation Raise/1563 Platform”, a “Diamond Drill Station” at 6066 North in the underground mine, the “Bridge to the Gravel Pit”, the “Crushing and Screening Plant” in the gravel pit, the ventilation bulkhead in the conveyor decline, and the “Powder Magazine”.
People depicted include Rose Gay and R. Tyne on a tour of the underground mine, a geologist with a rockhammer, a miner identified as A. Jacobs working, contract miners Bruno and Marbel from Canadian Mine Development, and unidentified miners rockbolting, shotcreting, and drilling using jackleg drills.
Vehicle and mining equipment depicted include jeeps, pickup trucks, a front end loader, an unidentified a small unmanned tracked machine with a long arm, scoop trams, a land cruiser, an ore truck with a flat tire, the cone crusher, a “scissor lift”, a mobile shotcrete machine, a new grout pump, a new Boart Jumbo Drill, and a detached bucket half of a 413 ore truck.
The second collection depicts the McDame Project construction in 1986 and 1987.
Content of these photographs includes: various machinery used for excavating and drilling, underground progress of tunneling, supports, wire meshing, rock formations in mine, and exposed asbestos. There are no annotations regarding this photographs.
File contains images depicting various landslides near Cassiar BC. Set of 20 photographs (with 9 corresponding negative strips) date stamped June 1987 depict landslide near creek and dirt road with a Cassiar company truck. Set of 5 black and white photographs found in envelope marked "D. Stewart" are likely from 1988-1989 and depict a rockslide on the south western side of the pit mine, near the tramline. Album entitled “6200 DUMP SLIDE / SPRING, 1979” contains 34 photographs depicting aerial shots of a massive rockslide on the eastern slope of McDame Mountain, originating from the mine waste dump. Several images from album show greenish water pooling in the toe of the slide.
File contains images of mine operations and construction, as well as a variety of other subjects.
- Elements of the underground mine are depicted, including miners working, the marked rock face, yellow ducting and ventilation fan, the portal, mesh rockbolted onto adit walls, shotcrete being applied, and stacked mining construction materials.
- Mining equipment depicted in this file includes underground ore haulage truck, Wabco ore haulage truck, jackleg drill, stoper drill, scoop tram, jumbo drill, conveyor, pickup trucks, unidentified mixing or grinding machine, a cable wagon and half constructed ore haulage truck in the shop, and a continuous miner (also known as alpine miner or roadheader).
- A set of images show a dozer and a lowbed truck transporting a temporary building down the pit mine access road.
- Several images depict drill core fragments, asbestos ore, and geological features of the mine.
- Mining related process are depicted, including a young man sluicing and panning, a mine building under construction, and an unidentified steel frame structure with a hydraulic device suspended on a rail.
- A set of images shows a railway or highway construction project, including stockpile of construction materials, rail cars, caboose, locomotive, front end loader, dump truck, concrete mixing trucks, semi-trucks, and a rail car with large steel drums which are speculated to be specialized for tunnel construction.
- Further images show what is speculated to be tunnel construction.
- A set of images at a high ceiling underground mine which is not Cassiar depicts a man in a suite by a underground ore haulage truck, and other mining vehicles including a crane.
- A set of images depict an ungulate herd, possibly bighorn sheep, on a mountain side.
- The file includes several images which depict personal life, presumably from a family vacation, and access to these images may be restricted. These images depict man with children on a fishing trip, adults and children around a pool, a woman on a motorcycle, and a house and kitchen. Several groups of images are contained in envelopes annotated with dates and “K. Minty”.
This file contains various aspects of the underground mine.
- Photos depicting damage to the underground mine such as fallen rocks, cracked shotcrete, twisted rock bolts and metal mesh, exposed and damaged steel structural frames, and repairs underway.
- Steel cables, chains, support arches, and custom welded rebar frames used in the structural reinforcement of the underground mine.
- Several engineering tests related to the structural damages are depicted.
- Two sets of images show a Porta Power hydraulic tool with a ready rod attached, a hand pump, as well as images of a technician testing the holding power of a rock bolt.
- Set of images documents a technician drilling cores and installing extensometer anchors, as well as grouting the anchors and connecting an extensometer. Technicians are shown inspecting damages with a ruler and rockhammer for scale.
- A set of images showcase the threaded rebar, nuts, and face plates used for rockbolts.
- Utility vehicles, yellow vent ducting, and utility pipes are visible in several images.
- Also include is an image of a man in office space, foggy night scene with a telephone pole, office desk, stack of supplies including concrete, steel cable, and spray paint, and several images of a broken piece of ore and concrete outside the mine portal.
- Several images depict miners working in the bucket of a scoop tram.
- Photos of the stramler feeder breakers, which was used in the underground mine.
- Images of ground support verifications where the deficiency of the exhaust ramp was investigated. This collection has various annotations explaining the broken shotcrete and the wire mesh installed.
- A collection of photographs depicting tunnel shotcrete failures. Each photograph has an accompanied textual annotation.
- Photos of MMD #750 Sizer equipment - assumed used in Underground Mine.
- Photos of pump used in 1335 level, wheel fan for ventilation removed from 1350 level,
- A collection of ground fall event 29 March 1989 - with annotations depicting damage
File contains images depicting the underground mine at Cassiar, showing structural damages, repaired damage ground support, and mining and repair processes.
The file contains a photo inventory entitled “Underground Mine Structural Inspection, Rock Mechanics Dept. Foto Documentation” with a complete file inventory linking the picture number to a location, title, and dated film. This photographic documentation was assembled for the purposes of liaising with a underground mining consultant located in South Africa.
- Images document structural ground support including steel cables, support arches, metal mesh, shotcrete, rockbolts, wooden beams.
- Images show ground support damaged through ground movement, but some depict newly installed or repaired support.
- Images depict ventilation ducting that was crushed or torn.
- Mining processes depicted include miners installing a rock breaker, miners paving the adit floor with concrete, miners inspecting a damaged section of mine, miner loading drill or blastholes with ANFO (ammonium nitrate / fuel oil mixture) explosives, and long hole drilling.
- Technical elements of the underground mine depicted include a mining device and ore in a chute (annotated ‘1290 crusher’), the conveyor, ‘LH drill’, ore processing machine annotated ‘1350 breaker’, and an electrical box titled ‘Weighometer’.
- Specific locations shown include ore draw points, ore passes, access drifts, a hatch and door titled “Fuel station 1415”, and a dead end drift with a stack of equipment and an orange cable annotated “1335 access electrical stations”.
Photographs depict aerial views of the Cassiar townsite, plantsite, tailings pile, mine road, bench and pit mine, mine buildings (tramline loading station, crusher, shop, and garage), and surrounding mountain range. Here "aerial" refers to photos depicting a large area and taken from the air or from a high point of elevation.
File contains portraits and sample photographs of exposed asbestos fibre: in veins of rock outcrops, and loose in talus on McDame Mountain (location of Cassiar mine). Some photographs were printed in Cassiar's Annual Reports, with labels and descriptions.
File contains photographs depicting machinery, individuals, buildings, and mining processes at the open mine on McDame Mountain, Cassiar, B.C. Some photos depict benches from open strip mining, and two images feature models of the mine (1955 and 1970). Machinery depicted includes shovels, bulldozers, tractors, ore haul trucks (Kenworth, International Harvester, and Wabco), air track drills, blasthole drills, and Ingersoll-Rand Drill. Identified individuals include Fred Murray, R.R. [Kiresan?], C.E. Bronson, Bill Giachino, and "Sam".
File contains photographs featuring:
- the pit mine: fault line, geology, snowdrifts, plowed snow, blast patterns marked by orange cones, mist, and surrounding mountains.
- Pit mine is depicted by aerial photographs and a profile diagram.
- Several photographs also depict what is speculated to be the portal to the underground mine adit in the early phases of development.
- One photograph depicts the shop building in the pit mine, used for maintenance of mining equipment and to house the primary crusher.
- Several photographs show office interiors and personnel and it is speculated that these photographs were taken in the upper floor of the shop building.
- Several photographs depict small sinkholes in the pit mine.
- Mining equipment depicted includes pickup trucks, front end loaders (including a Cat 988), ore haulage trucks, scoop trams, D8 Caterpillar dozer, grader, mining drill rig, jumbo drill, rock hammer, P&H excavator, and wireline extensometer. Photolab envelopes accompanying these materials were annotated “R. Tyne” and “falling ground”. Slide sleeves were annotated “Mine Nov-Dec 1975”, “AERIAL SHOTS OF MINE 1976” and “Phase 8 Dec 1975”.
- Photographs of a Gardner Denver blasting drill at the mine and other ground drills working
- Photograph of proposed power line to #1 switchback in 1975,
- Collection of photographs of a Wsbco truck with corresponding mechanical transfers of those photographs.
- Also photographs a Gardner Denver drill and a Bucyrus Erie drill that was rented to Cassiar Mine in 1974. This collection includes a depiction of an accident with these drills.
- An additional collection of photographs of #709 Drill that was involved in minor accident. A pipe was either damaged or was the cause of the accident.
- Negative collection of photographs with corresponding notes of descriptions.
- Photographs of G.D. 80 Drill - Blasthole drill at work in the open pit.
- Photographs part of Month End Reports from January - June 1980
- Photographs of portable toilets used on Mine site.
- Photograph collection of mine garage January 21, 1988
- Photograph collection of what is believed to be the inside of the mine garage and various storage units and equipment. Marked "Receiver File" in original enclosure.
- Photos of Crane in 1984.
- An Album of 192 photographs of machinery in March of 1976 working at the mine site. Some of the equipment from either the plantsite or the mill is also depicted.
File contains photographs featuring the tramline at Cassiar which ran from the crushing plant at the mountain mine to the plantsite in the valley (a drop of 427 meters). The first ore was originally transported by truck to the plant until the gravity chute was built in 1953. This chute was replaced with the first aerial tramline model in 1956, which was succeeded by the second model in 1975. This file also includes one photo of the original gravity chute, and one photo depicting a tramline worker.
Additionally there is a collection of eighteen photographs of tramline cars that were being surveyed for damage and condition, and another collection of six photographs of tramline study. The results of this study determined that there was variances in load sizes of the buckets caused by extra material falling off the panfeeder.
File contains photographs depicting four different tours that took place at the mine, plant, and towns owned by Cassiar Asbestos Corporation Ltd. Tours include Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's visit to Clinton Creek in 1968 and Member of Parliament Iona Campagnolo's visit to Cassiar in 1978. Photographs also depict a party of ambassadors touring Cassiar in 1970, and the dedication of a building in the Cassiar plant in the late 1970s.
File contains photographs featuring members of the Board of Directors of Cassiar Asbestos Corporation Ltd., which was formed on the 17th of May, 1951. Cassiar's forerunner was a company named Conwest, formed in 1534, a consolidation of two companies owned by Fred Martin Connell and his brother W. Harold Connell. The first board of directors included the Connell brothers, George Armstrong, John E. Kennedy, Charles & Arthur Mortimer, and Charles Rainforth Elliot (chartered accountant and secretary-treasurer of Conwest & Cassiar). Directors depicted in this file include F.M Connell, Harold Connell, Charles Elliot, John E. Kennedy, George Armstrong, Ken A. Creery, John Drybrough, Tam Zimmermann, George Washington Smith (president of Bell Asbestos Mines), Nick Gritzuk, Jack Christian (general manager, president, and CEO). Other individuals depicted include Fred Murry, Andre Beguin, Plato Malozemoff from Newmont Mining (co-founder of Cassiar with F.M. Connell), Alfred Lloyd Penhale (founder and CEO of Asbestos Corporation of Canada Ltd.), C.B. Brown, Pierre Marcotte, Francis Parker Smith (brother of George Smith), Bill Oughtred, Bill Johnson, and a Mr. Janitsch. File also includes a portrait of an unidentified director of Cassiar from Turner and Newall in England, taken at the corporate club in Toronto. Group portraits were taken at the Cassiar Valley, the office building, "House 130," fishing outings, and at formal events in unidentified locations.
File contains photographs depicting superintendents accepting safety awards on behalf of Cassiar Asbestos Corporation ltd, and BCIT Scholarship Winners.
File contains photographs taken for promotional purposes.
- Two photos depict a Cassiar display at an unknown event in 1963.
- Eight photos were professionally taken for use in the 1978 Cassiar Asbestos Corportaion Ltd. Annual Report, and possibly other publications. These photos depict a skyscraper and products made with asbestos.
- Additionally, two hand painted postcards of McDame Mountain and Christmas Tree House are included that may have been used for promotional reasons. Also, four slides of a display, "Story of Asbestos."
- five photographs of unofficial tour of Cassiar via airplane in the 1970s.