54. Gold-bearing Quartz (1909)

Gold-bearing Quartz

The thousands of specimens in the Geological Survey of Canada’s National Mineral Collection record the history of mining in Canada. For example, this gold-bearing quartz specimen from Timmins, Ontario, represents one of Canada’s most important mining developments.

Although gold production in Ontario first started in 1866 in the Madoc area, the most spectacular of the early Ontario discoveries was made in the fall of 1909 near Timmins on a property that became the Dome Mine. A sensational showing of native gold occurred in a dome-like outcrop of quartz that, in places, was over 30 metres wide. It generated the great Porcupine Gold Rush of 1909-1910, and the gold was mined from a large open pit known as the 'glory hole'.

Production began in 1910. Two years later, the Dome Mine was Ontario's leading gold producer and, for 1913, its yield almost equalled the entire gold production from all other Ontario mines combined. A number of other major gold mines developed in the area over the following years. Today, Timmins is an important mining centre that produces copper, zinc, silver, and nickel, as well as gold.

Category: Rocks, Fossils, Minerals and Meteorites

Decade: 1900s

GSC 175 - CGC 175