MINING: Flow at Blind River

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In the snow-covered wilderness north of Lake Huron, Canada's uranium industry came of age last week. The occasion was the official opening of two big mines. Algom-Quirke and Algom-Nordic, in the world's richest uranium field, the Blind River camp. The mines were opened by Rio Tinto Mining Co. of Canada Ltd., a subsidiary of the 84-year-old British mining firm, Rio Tinto Co., Ltd. of London, which acquired them along with other Blind River properties from Brooklyn-born Joe Hirshhorn for $60 million in cash and securities. At peak the mines will soon be turning out $110,000 worth of uranium concentrates daily to fill the guaranteed Canadian government purchases of $206.9 million.

Big as the Algom operation is (the two mines and mills have a daily ore-processing capacity of 6,000 tons, double the largest U.S. operation), their output will be only a fraction of Rio Tinto's eventual production. The company's three Northspan mines ($275 million in government contracts) are set to start producing before the end of 1957; its Milliken Lake mine ($94 million in contracts) by March 1958. Rio Tinto's smaller Pronto mine (1,250 tons of ore daily) was opened in 1955 but ran into production troubles, now being taken care of in an enlargement of capacity to 1,500 tons.

Not all of the Blind River field is Rio Tinto's. The mine which many geologists say has probably the biggest (136 million tons) reserve of uranium ore in the Western world is Consolidated Denison Mines Ltd., under the control of Latecomer Steve Roman. He expects to begin production next month, holds $201.2 million in government contracts.

Other Blind River production prospects:

¶ Can-Met Explorations ($79.4 million in contracts), scheduled to begin producing in June 1957.

¶ Stanleigh Uranium ($90.5 million), to begin by the fall of 1957.

¶ Stanrock Uranium ($95.2 million), to begin by October 1957.

By 1958 Canada expects to be producing uranium at an annual rate of $300 million, the bulk of it in the Blind River area, where all the mines are located within a ten-mile radius of the town of Elliot Lake. Two years ago Elliot Lake was only some lines on a chart. Today it has 400 completed homes, two large trailer camps with some of the biggest, plushest trailers parked anywhere on the continent, and a population of 4,000 expected to swell to 25,000 by 1958. Around Elliot Lake traditions are being made so fast that an enterprising dry cleaner this week emphasized his established business character by advertising: "Founded in 1956."