Gilbert LaBine
| Gilbert LaBine | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Adelard "Gilbert" LaBine 10 February 1890 Westmeath Township, Renfrew County, Ontario, Canada |
| Died | 8 June 1977 (aged 87) Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Nationality | Canada |
| Occupation | prospector |
| Known for | Eldorado Mining and Refining |
Gilbert LaBine, OC (10 February 1890 – 8 June 1977) was a Canadian prospector who, in 1930, discovered radium and uranium deposits at Port Radium, Northwest Territories. He has become known as the father of Canada's uranium industry. LaBine was president of Eldorado Mining and Refining from its start in the late 1920s to 1947. He left the company (which became a crown corporation in 1944) to prospect for uranium minerals as an independent mine developer. In the 1950s he brought the Gunnar Mine to production at Uranium City, Saskatchewan.
Adelard "Gilbert" LaBine was born on a farm at Westmeath Township, Renfrew County, Ontario on 10 February 1890. He studied at the Hailybury Provincial School of Mines.
LaBine made his first prospecting strike "in some silver claims near Cobalt" in the Ottawa Valley. He incorporated his own company in 1926 under the name "Eldorado Gold Mines, Limited."
At the end of March 1930, LaBine traveled to Great Bear Lake in the Northwest Territories to do some prospecting. On 16 May, while exploring an island at Echo Bay, LaBine discovered "a very rich deposit of uranium ore."
LaBine stockpiled uranium ore at Great Bear Lake from the time of early production after the staking of the company's first two claims in May 1930. Eldorado's pitchblende (the outcrop of rock containing uranium, cobalt, radium, silver etc.) was refined initially for radium because it traded at a high value and was used for treating cancer. Uranium was a by-product of the refining process, and the company had little use for it. When radium prices dropped, operations slowed down. "By mid-1940, Eldorado's sales totaled less than $8 million and its prospects were not encouraging...In July, the mine was shut down and allowed to fill with water."
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