MINERAL
INVENTORY FILE NO.
861
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
PRODUCT
Lignite
NTS AREA
62F2SE
REF.
COL 1
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
NAME OF PROPERTY
Vaden, Manitoba Coal
Lennox and McKay Mines
OWNER OF
OPERATOR ADDRESS
Manitoba Coal Co.: 16-12-1-24W &/or 1-13-1-24W
Vaden: l.s.
16-12-1-24W
Lennox: l.s. 2-14-1-24W
McKay: l.s. 16-11-1-24W
OBJECT LOCATED
4 mines
MINING
DIVISION
__________
Latitude
49°01'
Longitude
100°24'
Uncertainty
(m)
___
UTM Zone
_____
Easting
_______
Northing
_______
L.S./Quarter
Section
___
Section
11, 12, 13, 14
Township
1
Range
24 W
DESCRIPTION OF
DEPOSIT
Coal of the Tertiary Turtle Mountain Formation was formerly mined at
Turtle Mountain to be used as a local source of fuel for homesteads. At the old
Vaden mine location, a ravine of about 15.2 m to 22.8 m in depth cuts into the
sloping flank of the mountain for a distance of 3.2 km, the trend of the
depression being east and west. According to Dr. Selwyn (1893) coal is found in
three seams underlying the till on the sides of this ravine. At an elevation of
63.6 m a 1.5 m seam of coal is reported to occur. The thickness of this seam is
questionable.
The second seam underlying this occurs at a depth of 4.2 m
below the upper seam and has a thickness of 1.0 m. The third and lowest seam
occurs at 3.3 m below the second seam and has a thickness of 45.7 cm. See Selwyn
(1893) for a general section of the mine.
Chemical Properties: Analysis of
coal by D.B. Dowling (1902) yielded values of 24.50% to 26.00% moisture; 16.20%
to 16.50% volatile hydrocarbon; 47.50% to 44.50% fixed carbon; and 11.60% to
13.00% ash.
Physical Properties: As above.
Use: As a source of fuel for
homesteads.
ASSOCIATED
MINERALS OR PRODUCTS OF VALUE
N/A
HISTORY OF
EXPLORATION AND DEVELOPMENT
The Vaden (Vodon?) Mine is located approximately 22.5 km southwest of
Deloraine on patented land.
Wright (1951) reported the first coal mined in
this area was from the Lennox pit, and at least 9 tonnes were removed. Doerksen
(1971) shows the location as l.s. 2-14-1-24W.
The Vaden Mine (l.s.
16-12-1-24W) was in operation around 1885. According to Dowling (1902) "a well
dug in the bed of one of the ravines on Sec. 12-1-24W, passed through several
coal seams from which a running stream of water was obtained. This apparently
proved too wet to work, and another pit was sunk from higher ground about 137 m
to the north, on l.s. 16. From this, coal was raised by means of a farm engine
and drawn to Deloraine in the winter by teams. This pit is known locally as the
Vaden Mine..." In digging the well in the ravine, after passing through the
surface deposits, a mass of broken coal 1.5 m thick was passed through, but in
the shaft for the mine this was not recorded, so that probably it was an
accumulation of drift material derived from a small seam just
above".
According to Doerksen (1971) the Vaden Mine consisted of a vertical
shaft 12.1 m in depth and approximately 2.4 m square. Counter shafts were sunk
at this point. An expensive steam pump was utilized to remove the large amount
of water that seeped into the shaft. Due to lack of knowledge of shoring up, a
number of tunnels caved in before a reasonable amount of coal could be removed.
Eventually, after heroic efforts to make the mine profitable, a cave-in occurred
during the lunch hour, completely burying the pump. This ended the
operation.
In 1889 a joint stock company, incorporated as The Manitoba Coal
Company, Limited, was formed to operate a coal mine on a larger scale and to
connect it with Deloraine by a railroad. A year later, 12 miners were at work in
a 13.6 m shaft that intersected a 1.5 m seam of coal at 13.0 m. Drifting to the
north showed a thickening of the seam; a boring in that direction had reported
2.7 m of lignite. The operation had a daily capacity of 9.1 tonnes of coal which
according to Wright (1951) "had to have the water wrung out of it before you
could burn it". The mine was located on l.s. 16-12-1-24W, and/or possibly on
l.s. 13-1-24W, 22.5 km from Deloraine, and the coal sold for $3 a ton at the pit
during 1889-1890, the years of operation.
There has been no recent activity
at this quarry.
HISTORY OF
PRODUCTION
A small amount of coal was removed from the Lennox Mine in
1883.
The Vaden Mine was in operation in 1885. The precise amount of lignite
recovered is unknown. The mine was closed during the year due to a
cave-in.
The Manitoba Coal Co. opened a mine, probably located at the same
location as the old Vaden Mine, in 1889.
Production of up to 9.1 tonnes of
coal daily was achieved.
The McKay Mine (l.s. 16-11-1-24W), which
operated during 1904, has no records of production.
The McKay Mine has
not been in production since.
Shipping Point: Vaden Mine
Material Shipped:
Lignite
Carrier: Truck
Destination: Local Market
REFERENCES
Bannatyne, B.B.
1978: Summary of available data on lignite
deposits, Turtle Mountain, Manitoba; Manitoba Mineral Resources Division,
Economic Geological Report 77/1, pp. 5, 6.
Cameron, E.L.
1949: Coal
(Lignite) in Manitoba; Unpublished Report, Manitoba Mines Branch.
Doerksen,
A.D.
1971: The Saga of Turtle Mountain Coal; 129p., D.W. Friesen & Sons
Ltd., Altona pp. 4-5, 17-19, 42, 55.
Dowling, D.B.
1906: Notes to
accompany a contoured plan of the lower slope of Turtle Mountain; Geological
Survey of Canada Annual Report 1902, Part A, pp. 192-203. Industrial Mineral
Geologist Files, Manitoba Mineral Resources Division.
Selwyn, A.R.C.
1893:
Notes on Turtle Mountain Coal Fields, Manitoba; Geological Survey of Canada,
Annual Report 1890, Part A, pp. 11, 12.
Wallace, R.C., and Greer, L.
1927:
The Non-Metallic Mineral Resources of Manitoba; Industrial Development Board of
Manitoba p. 64.
Wright, N.
1951: In View of Turtle Mountain Hill:
Deloraine Times Publishing Company, Deloraine, Manitoba, p. 117.
MAP REFERENCES
Map 62 F/2, Waskada, (Topography), Sc. 1:50 000, Surveys and Mapping
Branch, Ottawa.
Fig. 2a, Location of former lignite operations at Turtle
Mountain, Sc. 1:42 240, in Bannatyne, 1978, p. 5.
Map 12, Industrial Minerals
Producers (Index), Sc. 1:1 000 000, Manitoba Mineral Resources
Division.
Mineral Map of Manitoba (1980), Sc. 1:1 000 000, Manitoba Mineral
Resources Division.
URL
N/A
REMARKS
According to Wright (1951) coal was mined near Lennox as early as 1883
from a mine located on l.s. 2-14-1-24W, and about 9 tonnes of coal was
removed.
Doerksen (1971) suggested that the mine located at l.s. 16-12-1-24W
should be referred to as the Vodon mine, while earlier reports such as Selwyn
(1893), and Dowling (1906) refer to the mine located on the NE1/4 12-1-24W as
the "old Vaden mine". The correct name is uncertain.
Doerksen (1971)
indicated that the Manitoba Coal Co. removed coal from l.s. 1-13-1-24W, and
possibly from the NE1/4 12-1-24W. The exact location of the operation is
somewhat ambiguous. Other sources e.g. Wright 1951, indicate that the operation
was on the NE1/4 12-1-24W.
NOTES
N/A
Compiled/Revised
by:
CWJ KH
Date
08-79 06-96