EPISODE 84 WHAT WERE WE DOING AT THE BOTTOM OF AN ABANDONED URANIUM MINE AT ELLIOT LAKE IN MAY, 1960?

Begin forwarded message:

From: ALAN SKEOCH <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>

Subject: Re: EPISODE 84 WHAT WERE WE DOING AT THE BOTTOM OF AN ABANDONED URANIUM MINE AT ELLIOTT LAKE (MAY 1960)?

Date: July 22, 2020 at 11:41:45 AM EDT

To: Marjorie Skeoch <marjorieskeoch@gmail.com>, Alan Skeoch <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>

EPISODE 84    WHAT WERE WE DOING AT THE BOTTOM OF AN ABANDONED  URANIUM MINE AT ELLIOT LAKE (MAY, 1960)?

alan skeoch

July 2020

Note:  For those of you who read  my Episodes dealing with Bunmahon and mining experiences in Southern Ireland you

might find the days prior to my arrival in Ireland  interesting.  Underground at an abandoned  uranium mine near Elliot Lake

I JUST found this picture taken by Barney Dwan as we crawled through the old adits of the Knockmahon

copper mine on the south coast of Ireland.   The picture is not relevant to the story below but should be included

in the Bunmahon  stories.   The contrast between Knockmahon mine (1840 – 1875) and the Can  Met mine

in Elliot Lake (1955 –  1960, below) will be apparent.  In  Elliot Lake the passageways  were big enough to drive large mine

trucks.  In Ireland, the miners had to squeeze through tight places.

MY JOURNAL

MONDAY  MAY 9, 1960

University exams  over on Friday  May 7.  Job started on Monday  May 9.  Each summer  I

hoped  to be re-employed by  Hunting Technical and Explorations Servies  because the jobs

were so exciting even he work was  always exhausting and living conditions far from luxurious  since

most jobs were in some god forsake corner of the world like last summer on the barren lands

of western Alaska about 100 miles inland from the Bering Sea.  From  some points on that treeless

Arctic and sub Arctic shore.  Desolate and infested with every blood sucking fly imaginable.

So remote  that we were armed  with 30 – 06 rifles lest a Kodiak bear felt we were choice bits 

of flesh.   That never happened.  Kodiak bears had lots and dead and dying  salmon to gorge 

upon and, anyway, I was told the bears thought we smelled bad which was believable since

bathing was  not high on our agenda.

Barrie Nichols met me at the office door on 1450 (?) Oconnor Road in East Toronto.

“Alan, you will be going to Arizona on a job near the Mexican border…leaving this week.”

“Snakes in Arizona?”

“I suppose  so…check  out what to do if bitten if you wish.”

“Right…says here that should a rattle snake bite you or a fellow crew member to make

sure the wound is bleeding then suck out the blood  and the venom…spit it out. Do not swallow.”

“What if  I am alone and the snake bites my leg?”

“Could be  tough problem.”

“Might be best to hire Plastic Man (a comic book superhero  in 1960) for the job, Mr. Nichols.”

“Very funny.”

Phoned home at lunch

“Hi Mom, I will be going to Arizona this week…need bush clothes for hot weather.”

“There are snakes in Arizona, Alan…bad snakes.”

“Already prepared for that mom.”   (Did  not mention… blood, snake venom and sucking as a first

aid solution.)

“They have hospitals down  there.”  

Then Barrie Nicholls called me to his office in the afternoon.

“Change  of plans, Alan, you are not going to Arizona…sending  Hilkar and Faulkner.”

“Where am I going then?”

“Southern Ireland.”

“There are no snakes in Ireland…some religious guy drove them out…”

“Very funny, Alan…but your are correct.”

“No need practice blood sucking.”

“What did you say…sorry I was not listening.

“Noting important … When do I leave?”

“Not sure yet…it will take a while to fill out the documents and crate

up the equipment.”

“What instrument will I be using?”

“The Turam with a back up Ronka.”

“Turam…same one we used  in Alaska?”

“Same one.”

“Why me?  Bill Morrison was the Turam expert.”

“We don’t know where he is.”

“And Don Van Every, Ian Rutherford, Mike Chinnery…all the Alaska crew.”

“None of them around…just you.  Do your remember how to use the Turam?”

“Sure.”  (said with a  slight pause)

“Dr. Paterson and  I are counting on  you Alan.  It would be a good  idea

not to mention to our contractor that you are a University student.  Act like

a permanent employee.”

(Under my breath…”In other words be confident”…my interpretation.)

“No worries.”

“Dr. John Stam will be  working with you…Phd. in Geophysics.  Dutchman. He will

do the interpretation.  All  you have to do  is get the raw material…the data…

to him.”

“Do I read you correctly Mr. Nichols…I will be in charge of the instruments

and the field work.”  (Wow, what a responsibility)

“Right.”

“Who will be working with me?”

“Nobody…you will hire and train an Irish crew at Bunmahon…a village

on the south coast of Ireland..  We are counting on you , Alan.”

“I know that…won’t let you down…do not worry.”   (spoken with a  confidence 

I did not really feel.)

“Now start carting up the gear…looks like 11 crates of equipment…get the crates made

somewhere…good strong crates  for the ocean voyage.”

“Do  you mean I am going to Ireland by ship.?”

“No you will fly…but the crates will travel by sea.”

Later in the Afternoon of June 9, 1960

“Hello Mom,  I will not be going to Arizona.”

“That’s a relief.”

“Why?”

“Because, Alan, there are no snakes in Ireland”

Spent  the rest of the afternoon signing documents

and arranging  for my passport.

TUESDAY MAY  10, 1960

By chance I was sent on the Alaska job in 1959. My partner Bill Morrison was an expert who showed  me how to set up the Turam  E. M. unit.  

I never expected to be the sole operator in 1960.  Bill had gone on to other things.  Lucky I made notes.  Suddenly…those notes were crucial.

The Turam method is one of the oldest geophysical electro-magnetic methods used for mineral exploration, devised by Erik Helmer Lars Hedstrom in 1937.^[1] Its name is derived from Swedish “TU” (two) and “RAM” (frame), referring to the two receiving coils.

Method[edit]

An insulated cable a few hundred meters to several kilometers long is laid parallel to the geological strike direction. The cable is either grounded at both ends or laid out in a large loop, and energized at low frequencies (less than 1 kHz). Two receiving coils are moved on lines outside of and perpendicular to the long side of the loop or grounded cable and two components of the resultant field are measured. The primary field generated by the large loop or cable interacts with the soil and subsoil and with a conductive body if present which could be a mineral and creates a resultant electromagnetic field. The electromagnetic field is measured according to two values: the Field Strength Ratio and the Phase Difference occurring between the two receiving coils . It is a fixed source horizontal loop method. Separation of the two moving coils is usually from 10 to 30 metres. Using an AC bridge (also called compensator bridge), Field Strength Ratio is measured in percent and Phase Difference in degrees. In-phase (Real) and quadrature (Imaginary) values can be calculated from these data. Observed field strength ratio readings are used to calculate reduced ratios using a formula determined by the loop size and shape or the grounded wire length and the position of the receiving coils relative to the loop or grounded wire. The Turam method is a frequency domain method and in a way is the precursor of the time domain fixed loop methods. It is claimed to have detected large flat lying conductors to a depth of 400 metres.

I will be expected to operate and  set up both the Turam E.M. (electro magnetic) unit

and the Ronka Electricial  resistivity units.   All  the equipment must be ready for shipment

by boat to Ireland tomorrow….must with, measure, label, itemize everything and  pack

in 8 crates.  Crates no good though…need to get new crates built.

Eric (brother) and  I went to a movie in evening after getting Rev. Currie to authenticate

my passport application.

I find  it hard to believe that I will be going to Ireland.  Others in the company

must be more qualified.   Why me?  Only explanation is that I am  the only person

left who knows how to operate the Turam system.

IRELAND…not so many flies to chew at our flesh…but there were lots of  other difficulties.

All the same my job in Ireland in1960 was unforgettable…lots of  good memories

WEDNESDAY MAY 11, 1960

Picked up the Turam from Charley Houston and and new crates made.

Two problems  solved.  

Then Dr. Paterson called  me over.

“Alan, you will leave tomorrow for Blind River then on to Elliot Lake.”

“Tomorrow?”

“yes, a job at the bottom  of a recently abandoned uranium mine called

Can Met.”

“Abandoned?  Uranium”

“Are you are thinking of Atom Bombs,”

“Yes.”

“I  suppose that is the end use of  the uranium”

“End use?”

“Sounds sinister, “

“Rather.”

“Have you ever been deep in a mine before?”

“No.”

“Well,  put this job  down as a first.”

Later I phoned Marjorie in North Bay.  What a great girl.  Then packed my

bag for Elliot Lake after typing out list for Irish customs.   Events are moving

very fast. 

(So on May  12, 1960, the same year I was sent to Ireland I was sent on a short job  at Elliot Lake.

The uranium mined  at Can Met was enriched  and inserted in metal casings

to become the atomic bombs that terrified so  many of us during the long Cold

War between the Soviet Union and the Western World.    By 1960, however,

the need to stockpile atomic nuclear weapons had come to an end.   There were

enough nuclear bombs on both sides by 1960,  enough to destroy human and

animal life on the whole planet.)

A great adventure was unfolding … with the speed  of summer lightning.  In a few weeks I would find  myself  underground crawling on my

stomach through an ancient adit on the south coast of Ireland.  What a  contrast between the two mines.  Elliot Lake Uraniium mine

was big  enough for huge  machines to drive down  the passageways.   Knockmahon was so small that sometimes the hole was

barely big enough to squeeze through.  Was  I scared?   Strangely, I never gave that much thought except when I asked  Barney Dwan

to take my picture (above) at Knockmahon later in the summer of 1960.

THURSDAY MAY  12, 1960

I nailed the last crate closed today and then began reading the Ronka manual.    Must know what I am doing when we

get to Ireland and  best place to do  that is the Manual…if I can understand it all.   Sass Casper left for a survey job 

at Niagara.  Eric  and dad drove  me today. This is the third day that I have had no time for lunch or even a  coffee…and I

have  only been working for three  days.

In the evening I went to Scouts and Scouter presented  me with my Ramblers Badge.   The guys in the Rover Crew

presented me with a  rosary for protection in Ireland then mom and  dad  drove me down to Union Staton

to catch the train to Blind River.

FRIDAY MAY 13, 1960

Passed  a wonderful night in my birth on the train just looking out the window watching the world by.  Really exciting…always

an adventure.  Awakened at 8 a.m. for a sumptuous breakfast in the dining car.  In other words bacon, eggs, toast, marmalade

and coffee.   Stopped for a few minutes in Sudbury…city looks depressing.  Just bare stretches rock wiht little vegetation.  Could be 

the face of the moon.  Continued  to read the Ronka manual.  Then we  arrived at Spragge where I got off the train and took

a bus to Elliot Lake.   

Uranium mining has fallen on tough times.  I guess the American have made enough atomic bombs now which means

our uranium market has collapsed.  Very depressing city.   Once it was a  boom town of 10,000 people…the place to be…the place  where

jobs were easy to find  and the money good.  Housing was so hard to get that some miners slept in their cars.   Most were single

men, many of them recent immigrants.  Others were  familiar with the nomadic  life of miners.  At least one man lived

in a tent with his wife and five kids.   Boom town in 1958.  Bust town in 1960. On  May 13,1960, all I could see was abandoned trailer camps,  cars stripped

of anything valuable like tires, and fields here and  there of repossessed vehicles.   Strange how modern buildings with glass

and aluminum fittings looks  so depressing when empty.

Proceeded  with geologist John  Hogan to Can. Met. Uranium mine three miles outside Elliot Lake.   Originally Can Met

employed 1,000 men but today it just has a skeleton staff of 70 to keep the place open.   Maybe even those men are

just here until we complete our underground  survey.   We have our meals  in  a  huge mess hall …big enough for

the huge work force that once ate here with meals cooked and served by Crawley and  McKraken food services as

the sign said..  Not anymore   

Tested  the Ronka and did some map  work.

SATURDAY MAY 14, 1960

This rant  style  lodge  was  built for Can  Met executives  but rarely used.  We lived there for our time at Can Met.  See interior below

CAN. MET. uranium mine cost 25 million dollars to open in the late 1950’s and it closed in 1960

having never made a profit.  Investors in mining stocks are often led  by flattering prospects of great

wealth that never ‘pans out’  …a gold mine expression.   In other words greed has a lot to do with

financing  mines.

The mine was shut down when we arrived.   Silent.  Even the huge lumbering ‘cage’  which would

drop us down the shaft for our 8 to 12 hours shifts.  Sad…a bit frightening.