KR

On February 17th, friends and colleagues gath-
ered in Vancouver for a party in honor of Charlie
Gander, who retired on January 31st, after 18
years with Cassiar Asbestos and Brinco Mining
Ltd.
Charlie and Cathy, with their children Charles
Jr. and Heather, came to Cassiar from East Coulee,
Alberta, in January 1966. He worked as Chief Ac-

countant and Office: Manager in: Cassiar_until he~

transferred to the Vancouver Head Office on June

“Ist, 1975 as Chief Accountant.

Charlie and Cathy are presently living in White
Rock but plan to move to the Okanagan in the
near future.

©0808 0000000008 COO8SO8OOOE

COURT NEWS

Court was held in Cassiar on February 2nd. The
presiding Judge was Chief Provincial Court Judge
Jerry Coltis. The following cases were heard.

JOHN BROWN AND ERVIN KLASSEN failed to
appear on a charge of causing a disturbance. War-
rants were issued for their arrest.

MARVIN QUOCK had six assault charges and one
escape custody charge remanded to April | 2th for
trial.

SIDNEY CREYKE, charges of assault and crimi-
nal negligence set for trial on April 12th.

JOHN WAITE, assault charges stayed.

REG DUKE, driving while over .08, fined $750
or 90 days in jail.

KELLY JOHNSTON was charged with mischief.
Fined $100 and ordered to pay $400 resititution.

GLEN COMPTON, charged with possession of a
narcotic. Plead not guilty. Trial set for April 12th.

LEO JOHNNY received 6 months in jail for
charges of causing a disturbance, assault and
break and enter.

LARSEN JOHNNY, preliminary hearing for
assault and possession of an offensive weapon.
Charges dismissed.

ELDON HARDY, charged with care and control
of a motor vehicle while impaired. Fined $350.

Continued on Page 2.

ees

=

Cassiar Courier
the Voice of Cassiar Country
MARCH 1984

Anniversary Celebration Mass

10cents

= Cassiany*Feb2;°1984 Bishop Hubert O’Connor of Wivichore: at visiting clergy helped Btleh ae

a special mass on the 25th anniversary of the building of Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Cassiar.

Story on Page 5.

Avalanche causes shutdown

For the second time in just over 12 months,
the Cassiar tramline which carries ore from the
Cassiar mine to the mill was shut down due to an
accident. Between 7:40 and 8:00 p.m. on the
evening of January 26th, an avalanche came down

from the mountian to the east of the tramline and |

flowed beneath the tramline between No. 7 and
No. 8 towers, about half way up the tramline

ne

Damaged bucket and tower.
(eee

The snow and/or air blast from the avalanche
derailed one of the empty return cars on the
tramline, which ran into No. 7 tower cutting it in
half. A number of cars were derailed; but none
apart from the one hitting the tower, were badly
damaged. : pa

The No. 7 tower was one of the towers which
was destroyed in the accident of November 30th,

1982, and drawings were therefore available in
Vancouver from which a replacement tower could
be fabricated. By working overtime Tidy Steel
were able to ship the tower by the following Fri-
day, (February 3rd), and the tower arrived in Cas-
siar on the afternoon of February 5th, and was

. unloaded at the site on February 6th. For the re-

mainder of that week the crews continued on
tower erection and replacing cars on the line. The
last car being replaced on the afternoon of Feb-
ruary 10th.

Ore, which had remained in the tramline buck-
ets for the 2 week period was frozen solid and
had to be dislodged from the buckets by beating
the buckets with sledge hammers and prying out
remaining material. This and the need to change 3
damaged haul ropes delayed the start-up until
after 3 a.m. on February 11th.

As a result of the accident, Avalanche experts
from both the Department of Highways and from
a private company, have visited Cassiar; the latter
group also putting on a course for a number of
employees. The consensus is that the area along
the tramline is not a bad avalanche area, but con-
ditions of snowfall, temperature, and wind may

create avalanche conditions of the magnitude of

this one perhaps once every 5. or 6 years. As a re-

sult closer monitoring and avalanche control will

be practiced in the future.

With the exception of 3 days, the Mill continu-
ed to operate during the whole period resulting in
the depletion of the stockpiled dry ore. Replen-
ishing of this ore will likely take some 3 months
and during the initial period ore delivery, concen-
tration and drying will be of paramount impor-
tance in keeping the operation going.

Brinco Mining wishes to express its apprecia-

tion to the people working on the tramline for an-
other job well done under less than ideal condi-
tions.

- More pictures on Page 14,