The deep gash in this hillside is all that remains of silver vein No. 96. The vein was originally discovered in 1908 by the Nipissing Mining Company Limited using an exploration method called trenching. Trenches are simply shallow channels dug down through loosely consolidated soil to bedrock in the search for minerals. This technique still remains one of the cheapest and most cost-effective methods of exploration today.
The vein was originally "stoped", or mined upwards from the adit level observed at the previous site and was intersected again on the two lower levels. The open cut, at surface, extends for a length of 142m and reaches a depth of 75m in places. Snow and ice collect during the winter months at the base of the cut and usually remain until the middle of August. These accumulations of ice produce the cool draft which blows out of the adit at the previous site.
Between 1908 and 1932, the Nipissing Mining Company Limited produced a total of 85,700,000 ounces of silver from all their area properties, representing a 1986 value of $581,400,000. This vein was not a major producer for the company but it was one of the largest mined.
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