“THE CASSIAR STORY”

Introduction

Brian G. Pewsey, Mine Manager,
Cassiar Asbestos Corporation Limited,
Cassiar, B.C.

Abstract

Located in the northern part of the Province of British
Columbia, the Cassiar Mine started development of its
asbestos orebody in 1952, and is currently producing 105,000
tons of asbestos fibre annually. The townsite is nestled in
a beautiful valley and supplies more than average facilities.
The fibre is shipped to more than 40 countries and is used
in many industrial products.

Location, Access and Climate

THE CASSIAR MINE is located at latitude 59°20’N,
longitude 129°49’W, in rugged, mountainous terrain
50 miles (80 km) south of the Yukon border, 735 air
miles (1177 km) northwest of Edmonton and 200 air
miles (320 km) southeast of Whitehorse (see loca-
tion map, Fig. 1).

Access to the property is by an all-weather road
running 100 miles (160 km) southwest from Watson
Lake (1044 km) on the Alaska Highway. The Cassiar
road is a northern portion of the road to Stewart
(Highway 37) on the Pacific coast.

Cassiar is in the Cassiar Mountain range, with the
town and plantsite nestled in a typical glacially formed
valley at an elevation of 3525 ft (1074 m). The open-
pit mine located on McDame Mountain, at an average
elevation of 6000 ft (1830 m), some 8 air miles (4.8
km) north of the plantsite.

The average winter temperature at Cassiar is in
the range of -10 to -15°C. The winter season extends
from October to May, and during this time there is
an over-all snowfall of approximately 116 in. (295
em). The mountain ridge to the south of the com-
munity permits only diffused sunlight to reach the

Brian G. Pewsey was born in Zambia
and received his primary education
in South Africa. He joined Rhodesian
Selection Trust in 1954 as a learner
surveyor and by 1959 had gained his
higher and advanced national certi-
ficates in mining, mining economics
and surveying. In 1961, he entered the
Camborne School of Metalliferous
Mining, receiving his associateship in
1964 when he returned to Rhodesian
Selection Trust in Zambia as an un-
dergr ound mine official. In 1966, he immigrated to Canada,
joining the Iron Ore Company of Canada at Schefferville,
Quebec, as mine engineer, progressing to supervising en-
gineer, mines, by 1969. In 1970, he joined Rio Algom Ltd.
in Toronto as mining engineer, working on feasibility
studies and field exploration programs. In 1974, he joined
Cassiar Asbestos Corporation Limited as mine superinten-
dent and became mine manager in 1976. He is a member
of the CIM and the Association of Professional Engineers
of British Columbia and Ontario.

Keywords: Cassiar Mine, Asbestos,
Manpower, Transportation.

Townsite, Services,

Cassiar, British Columbia
Location Map

LEGEND
—— Railways

—— Roads

FIGURE 1 — Location of the Cassiar Mine.

town during December and January. During the spring
and early summer months, temperatures reach 21°C
under sunny skies. The latter part of the summer and
fall is characterized by cloudy weather, with an aver-
age rainfall of 16 in. (40 cm).

History

The existence of the asbestos deposit had been
known by native hunters for many years before de-
velopment work commenced. Stories were told of
mountain sheep bedding down in matted fibre that
accumulated from the weathering of the outcrop. In
1950, four prospectors, Richard Victor Sittler, Hiram
Nelson, and the brothers Robert and Ronald Kirk,
staked the property, but it was not until 1951 that
improvements in transportation and economics made
development work possible. The Conwest Exploration
Company Ltd. of Toronto acquired the holdings in
1951 and formed Cassiar Asbestos Corporation Lim-
ited, which commenced the development of the deposit.

The first ore was mined in the fall of 1952, when
talus ore was trucked to a mill rated at a capacity of
250 tons per day. The transportation of the ore was
originally by truck from the mine to the mill along 6
miles (9.6 km) of steep, narrow and inadequate roads.
In 1958, a 180-degree concave steel chute was con-

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