New Russell

In 1917, the Nova Scotia Molybdenum Company operated a mine in New Russell, Lunenburg County, that contributed to the war effort.

Just as molybdenum was critical then, it still is today because it is used in things like wind turbines and electric vehicles. It is an example of Nova Scotia’s potential to contribute to the global supply of minerals that are necessary to achieving climate goals.

The metal molybdenum was first found in the area sometime prior to 1869 when Henry How, a professor and vice president of King’s College in Windsor, wrote that molybdenum had been discovered in the Chester area. While he did not detail the location, How was probably referring to boulders found in nearby New Russell on the property of Bennett Walker. The boulders, found in fields, contained milky-white quartz that contained molybdenum. They were discussed in a 1911 Canada Mines Branch report that said the Walker family had been aware of the boulders for at least 40 years.

It was not known where the boulders had eroded from – where the actual deposit of molybdenum was located. Drift (gravel and soil that contained small amounts of molybdenum) was found over several miles, in a belt a few hundred feet wide. The 1911 report suggests, “These boulders have possibly been torn loose from the solid vein rock, and scattered in this way by glacial movement….” This refers to the fact that glaciers erode land as they move slowly over it, and carry eroded rocks, sand and dirt along with them. When glaciers melt/retreat, they deposit the rocks, sand and dirt.

Prospecting led to the Nova Scotia Molybdenum Company, run by C. J. Burchell and C. L. Normandin, both of Halifax, sinking a shaft on Walker’s property in 1917. (The deposit came to be known as Walker Moly.) The shaft was 34 feet deep, and a 26-foot tunnel was dug northwards at the shaft bottom.

Three shipments of ore, weighing over one ton combined, were sent to the Ore Testing Laboratories of the federal government’s Mines Branch in Ottawa. The concentrates (refined material) were sold to the Imperial Munitions Board to help with the war effort during WWI.

Molybdenum is usually alloyed (combined) with steel to make it stronger, so it was used during WWI and WWII in things like hard-wearing parts on airplanes and trucks, steel shells and armour plating.

Today, molybdenum is considered a critical mineral because of its steel-strengthening ability. It is used in things like wind turbines and electric vehicles to make them strong and safe.

The Nova Scotia Molybdenum Company did not do any extraction in 1918 and the site was then idle for many years.

In 1932, Messrs. Hyland and Dunright dug a small pit in the area. It was 6 by 8 feet in width and length, and about 20 feet deep. They hired someone to deepen it to 100 feet but work was abandoned before this was done.

They did some trenching in the drift (the molybdenum-bearing gravel) about one mile from their shaft, but the area has large amounts of overburden (the dirt that sits on top of the bedrock). Overburden is unhelpful in mining because it needs to be dug through and removed in order to access a mineral deposit below. Today, we can do that with heavy equipment but it can still be a significant expense. In past generations, with less sophisticated and powerful equipment, large amounts of overburden were a major obstacle.

Hyland and Dunright failed to reach bedrock after digging a trench 15 feet deep and gave up.

The site was prospected again in 1949 when the Nova Scotia Department of Mines did some diamond drilling. The original shaft was also drained and sunk an additional four metres. Short tunnels were dug east and west, 3.3 and 3.6 metres respectively.

Several other molybdenum occurrences have been found in the New Ross/New Russell area.

The Imperial Munitions Board was established in 1915 by the British Ministry of Munitions, with the cooperation of the Canadian government. The board was responsible for letting contracts on behalf of the British government for the construction of war materials in Canada.

It was run by well-known Toronto businessman Joseph Flavelle. Under his leadership, the Board oversaw an impressive expansion in wartime production, from only a few companies having the capacity to produce shells to, in 1917, dozens of companies, including crown corporations, that collectively produced some $2 million worth of goods per day.

According to the Canadian War Museum, by 1917, almost one-third of all British shells were being manufactured in Canada. The IMB constructed ships and aircraft and developed airfields for a large pilot training program. By war’s end, its 600 factories had completed some 103 naval vessels, 2,600 training aircraft, and 30 flying boats.

The IMB eased the problem of scarce labour by hiring 30,000 women to work in its factories and offices.

When the IMB ceased operations in 1919, it was Canada’s largest civilian employer, with over 289,000 employees.