Giant mine
 
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Canada |
The Giant Mine was a large gold mine near Yellowknife , the capital of Canada's Northwest Territories province . Up to 2004, 220 tons of gold had been mined here.
Johnny Baker found the first gold on the site in 1935. The true extent of the occurrence remained unknown until 1944 when a promising gold bearing layer ( gold vein ) was discovered under the Baker Creek Valley. This brought the city new upswing in the post-war period. In 1948 a hydroelectric power station was inaugurated and in the same year industrial mining of the precious metal began .
Pamour of Australia took over Giant Yellowknife Mines Limited , which owned the mine , in 1986 from the previous owner Falconbridge , but had to cede the business to Royal Oak Mines Incorporated four years later . On September 18, 1992, a bomb exploded at the height of a clash between management and employees, killing nine scabs . Mine worker Roger Warren was later convicted for the act. The strike ended in 1993.
Due to the low gold price , Royal Oak went bankrupt in April 1999 and the mine went to Miramar Mining Corporation , which finally ceased operations in 2004. Today a memorial of the NWT Mining Heritage Society on gold production in the region is located on the site of the former mine.
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Coordinates: 62 ° 29'59 " N , 114 ° 21'30.9" W.