Gilbert LaBine

Gilbert LaBine (born February 10, 1890 in Westmeath Township , Renfrew County near Pembroke (Ontario) , † June 8, 1977 in Toronto ) was a Canadian prospector and mining entrepreneur and pioneer of the discovery of uranium and radium in Canada in the Northwest Territories , where he discovered pitchblende in 1930 at Great Bear Lake , at the site of the later Eldorado uranium mine. He is considered the father of uranium mining in Canada.

LaBine was mostly self-taught and had been prospecting for gold and silver since his youth. With his brother Charles he founded the Eldorado Gold Mines company. The search in Manitoba did not make them rich, but made it possible to search for pitchblende at Great Bear Lake, whereby the goal was initially only the yield of radium , uranium only became valuable later. They broke a Belgian monopoly with radium in the 1930s, but the market was saturated and LaBine turned back to prospecting for gold in Manitoba and founded the successful company Gunnar Gold Mines in 1934. Real success with the Eldorado Mine only came when the need for uranium was awakened during World War II. The Eldorado mine was nationalized by Canada in 1943, but was managed by LaBine until 1947. After the Second World War, he discovered Gunnar Gold Mines, a second large uranium deposit in northern Saskatchewan .

He was a member of the Order of Canada from 1969 , of the Order of the British Empire from 1946 and was inducted into the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame.

Web links

• Canadian Mining Hall of Fame
• Canadian Encyclopedia