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Nicholas Fitzgerald
Chief Lonecloud
Pistols and Gold Mines
James MacDonald’s Thefts
John’s Vaughn
Herbert Dixon and the Halifax Explosion
James Bishop
Neily's Scandals
Waverley in 1934
Discovery of Gold at Dufferin
Hurricane Island
Fletcher and Faribault
Jack Munroe
Mine Apprentice Project
Small Gold Districts
15 Mile Stream
Tributers
E. Percy Brown and the Brookfield Mine
Barachois
Nova Rich Mines
Shad Bay Treasure Hunt
Montague 1937 Accident
Father Lanigan’s “Prospect”
George V. Douglas
The Stewart Brothers
Goldboro
Moose River's Touquoy Mine
Camerons Mountain
Jim Campbells Barren
Stanburne's Puzzling Gold Mine
Pockwock
Beaverbank Lake
Banook Mining Company
Deep Gold Mining
Wellington
Arsenic and Gold
Dynamite
War of Words
King of the Klondike
Oliver Millett
Kempt Gold Mining Company
Carleton
The Memramcook Fiasco
Love and Gold in Oldham
Montague 1893 Disaster
Central Rawdon Consolidated Mines
Cochrane Hill
Amateurish Early Gold Mining
Sable Island Gold
The Sea Wolf
Trueman Hirschfield
Alexander Heatherington
Prospector Joe Cope
Killag Quicksand
George W. Stuart
Wellington
Billy Bell
Cooper Jim Mine
South Branch Stewiacke
Walter Prest
Lake Charlotte
Acadia Powder Mills Company
The Ovens Anticline
Moose River Anticline
Avon Mine Explosion
Montague
Waverley Claims Dispute
Avon River
Moose River Disaster
Mooseland Scam
New York and Nova Scotia Gold Mining Company
Rosario Siroy and the South Uniacke Gold District
Blockhouse
Killag Gold District
Miller Lake
Baron Franz von Ellershausen
Mooseland: Nova Scotia’s first Gold Discovery
United Goldfields of Nova Scotia
Pleasant River Barrens Gold District
Lochaber Gold Mining Company
Rawdon Gold Mines
MacLean Brook
Gold in Clayton Park?!
Forest Hill
Meguma vs. Placer Gold
Uniacke
Voglers Cove
Gold River
Moosehead
Goldenville
Westfield
Indian Path
Harrigan Cove
Centre Rawdon
Nova Scotia’s Gold Mining History
WWII Gold
Middle River Gold District
Early Gold Discoveries
Halifax 1867
Paris Exhibition 1867
Mining and Tourism
An Act relating to the Gold Fields
Molega Gold District
Brookfield Gold District
Gays River
Halifax Gold
Caribou Gold District
Renfrew Gold District
Oldham Gold District
Whiteburn Gold District
Country Harbour Mines
Waverley Gold District
Robert Henderson and Klondike Gold
George Mercer Dawson
Cow Bay Gold District
Lake Catcha Gold District
Wine Harbour Gold District
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.