“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- =