Sullivan Mine
The Sullivan Mine was an underground conventional–mechanized mine located in Kimberley, British Columbia, Canada; it has a complex, sediment-hosted orebody, made up primarily of zinc, lead, and iron sulphides. Lead, zinc, silver and tin were the economic metals produced.
The deposit was discovered in 1892 and acquired in 1909 by the CPR-owned Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada (later Cominco Ltd. and Teck Cominco). The mine's economic success resulted largely from Sullivan's 1916 development of the differential flotation process that allowed separate recovery of lead and zinc concentrates in the milling process. This technology, developed by Trail operations at Sullivan, has been used worldwide for various types of ore bodies. In its lifetime, the mine produced ore containing over 17 million tons of zinc and lead and more than 285 million troy ounces (8.9×109 g) of silver, which were together worth more than $20 billion. After 92 years of active production, the Sullivan Mine was closed in 2001. Since then Teck Cominco has been undertaking an extensive decommissioning and reclamation process at the site.
Conventional mining referred to the original part of operations of the Sullivan Mine, where miners drilled and moved ore by hand and with small equipment. The ore was then shipped via an extensive 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge underground rail system which led to the surface and then on to the Marysville concentrator. At one time there were more than 5,600 feet (1,700 m) of rail underground. Conventional tunnels were standard 8 by 8 ft (2.438 by 2.438 m) square. There was also a rail man-carrier that brought men in and out of the mine, descending on a sled full of chairs at a 60 degree bank. The railway system went everywhere underground, and ore was sent by rail to crushing chambers. The Sullivan mine had three such chambers where ore was initially crushed in order to begin to process it into its separate components, and debris was separated from the crushed ore. These impressive chambers were belt driven and had well-lit stations where men would monitor and maintain the process and machinery. There were two main crushers, and the third was smaller. Much of the railroad track and equipment is now used at the nearby Kimberley's Underground Mining Railway attraction.
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