Britannia Contaminated Sites Investigation Stage I Preliminary Site ...

1939-1945: Mining continued through the Second World War, but employees were hard to
find. Ventilation and dust control for the benefit of the workers’ health started to
receive much attention.
1946: The workers went on strike from July 1 to October 21.
1949: The road from Squamish was completed. Roads were built around the Beach and
workers began using trucks. A road was built to backfill No. 8 Mine and the first
mile of road to the Tunnel Mine (2200 level) was completed.
1950-1952: Additional residential and community construction continued at the Beach and the
4100 yard area was built. The road to the Tunnel Mine (2200 level) and Mt.
Sheer Townsite was completed, eliminating the use of the railways. A full-time
ventilation engineer was employed by 1950.
1954: The P.G.E. Railway was built through the Beach, resulting in demolition of some
housing and construction of new housing.
1955-1957: The company struggled with lower metal prices. Those mines still yielding ore
were the Bluff, Fairview, Victoria, No. 8, Jane, and Empress. The No. 5 mine
was now inactive. All mining operations were moved to the Beach site and the
Mount Sheer Townsite was virtually abandoned.
1958: The company ceased production and went into voluntary liquidation. Only
maintenance operations continued. All assets went to Howe Sound Company, the
holding company. Metal prices then began to rise and a two-year contract was
signed with the Union. The Sea to Sky Highway was completed, allowing the
scaling back of operations at Britannia Beach.
1959: The Mine reopened, however, much rehabilitation was required before milling
recommenced. Milling methods changed from wet to dry flotation. Copper
concentrates were stockpiled while the Tacoma smelter was closed by a strike.
Part of the mill tailings were sold to LaFarge Cement and Construction
Aggregates Ltd.
1962: Exploration was still taking place in the Victoria, Bluff and No. 8 mines.
1963: By this time, 10,000,000 pounds of copper had been recovered in precipitation
plants (Price, Schwab, Hutt 1995). All the property and assets of Howe Sound
Company were sold to Anaconda Mining Company and the Victoria, Bluff and
No. 9 mines continued to be mined.
1964: A labor strike shut down the mine for seven months, but new ore zones were
discovered, the mill was remodelled and production resumed. Silica from the
tailings was recovered and sold to cement companies. The company continued to
produce 60,000 tons of ore annually.
Britannia Contaminated Site Investigation
Stage I Preliminary Site Investigation
Project No. 50319-001-310 10