Pistols and Gold Mines

We often tell people that Nova Scotia is a great place to do business because of things like the province’s access to tidewater for shipping, great infrastructure and highly-educated workforce. In 1886, it was also worth noting that mine managers didn’t have to carry guns.

George W. Stuart, a highly respected gold miner and mayor of Truro, told the Halifax Herald in February 1886 that Nova Scotia had a number of important advantages over other gold-producing jurisdictions. He said, for example, “Then there is the accessibility of the various districts, the cheapness of the labor, and of both coal and wood, and also the great advantages of water power.” (Water, or hydro, power was a relatively inexpensive way to provide electricity at historical mines and gold miners were early adopters of this form of renewable energy: https://notyourgrandfathersmining.ca/gold-and-hydro-power)

Stuart also pointed out that Nova Scotia was a safe place to work: “I might say to you that we have many advantages for mining here that no other gold-producing country is favored with. One is the security of life and property. During our twenty-five years of gold mining not a single instance has been reported of robbery or attempt at robbery in the transportation of gold from the districts to the city. And I do not know of a half dozen owners who even carried a revolver. Unaccompanied they carry their bricks of gold as unconcerned as if it was of no value.”

Gold rushes in the 1800s in California and Australia had significant amounts of crime. Little law enforcement, alcohol, bad living conditions and dreams of quick riches, legal or not, inevitably led to trouble.

This was generally not the case during Nova Scotia’s early gold rushes.

For example, Joseph Howe, then-provincial secretary of Nova Scotia, visited the Ovens in 1861, a few months after gold was discovered there and when hundreds of people had descended on the area in the hope of making their fortunes. Howe wrote to the Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia, The Earl of Mulgrave, on September 4 and said: “There is no stipendiary magistrate and no police, no arms are carried or required. Crime is unknown, and property is as safe on the road or at ‘the diggings’ as it is in the shire town.”

Today, investors in mineral exploration and mines still take into account the sorts of considerations Stuart raised. They can invest anywhere in the world and want to know if the jurisdiction a safe place to invest and work. Is there rule of law? Is there electricity, a labour force and basic infrastructure like roads?

These things cannot be taken for granted. Minerals we all use every day are often mined in places that do not share our values, do not take care of the environment worker safety, and that are sometimes not safe. That is why we need to do more mining in stringently regulated western democracies like Canada where we do it right.

For example, about 70% of global cobalt supply, which is used in lithium-ion batteries, comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo where an estimated 40,000 children work in the mines. Russia supplies many minerals but buying from Russia indirectly supports things like its invasion of Ukraine. Much of the global supply of critical minerals, which are essential to achieving climate goals, is controlled by China which has a bad record on environmental management, worker safety and trade relations.

Nova Scotia’s mining and quarrying industry provides materials that are essential to our daily lives. For example, our infrastructure is built using Nova Scotian aggregate – it takes about 18,000 tons of aggregate to build one kilometre of highway. Most Nova Scotian homes contain gypsum quarried in the province because gypsum is a key ingredient in wallboard. An average home contains about seven tons of gypsum in its walls. Salt mined in Pugwash helps make our roads safer in winter and saves lives.

The industry also takes excellent care of the environment, has reduced its injury rate by 90% since the Westray inquiry, and employs over 3000 Nova Scotians, mostly in rural areas, with an average total compensation (wages and benefits) of $102,000 per year.

George Stuart.

The Ovens today.

The Ovens in 1879.