A Modern Boom Town To Exploit Ore Mines

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30289, 15 November 1963, Page 24

A Modern Boom Town To Exploit Ore Mines

MATAGAMI. Hundreds of miners are pouring daily into Matagami, a boom town carved out of the evergreen wilderness of north-western Quebec Province. The men and their machines started in October to gouge zinc, copper, gold, and silver from three different mines located in what was once a virgin forest. Noranda Mines. Limited, estimates it will have invested about 50 million dollars in the bold venture by the time the three mines are in production. For five years, the company has been engaged in a drive to push back the wild frontier far enough to exploit the underground wealth around Matagami. The fast-growing boom town already boasts indoor plumbing, electricity, juke boxes and a population in thousands. MLtagami. 400 miles northwest of Montreal, has highway and rail links with the outside. A 118-mile highway was built north from Amos, Quebec, for 8 million dollars under the Federal-Provincial roads-to-resources programme. A 60-mile rail link northwest from Kiask Fails was built at a cost of 10 million dollars. The main product of the mines will be zine, although copper will be mined along with some gold and some Silver. About half the zinc output is expected to go to Europe and the remainder to the United States. Mills at the pithead will •mash and grade the ore and reduce it to concentrates. The zinc concentrates will

be carried by train to Valleyfield, 30 miles southwest of Montreal, where a new Noranda refinery will convert them into metaL Copper, gold and silver concentrates will go by train to Noranda for treatment at refineries there. The new mines and the refinery at Valleyfield are expected to provide new jobs for 1000 men. Veteran residents of the north are saying the opening of the new mining town is only the beginning. Already prospectors are moving north from the town toward James Bay.

Some look on the town as a potential site for a pulp and paper mill because of huge forest reserves nearby. Others say that nearby rivers could supply additional hydroelectric power While talk of mining dominates the town’s conversation, education and politics are other subjects. A modern school has been built at Matagami for both French and English-speaking children. The school s director is Abbe Paul Bernard, a missionary priest in the area for several years. The relation between the Protestant and Cacholic school commissions of the area have been described as an example for the rest of the country The town will soon be called on to elect its first council. The present council was appointed by the Quebec Government. The Mayor is Mastai Lemieux, a land surveyor who was a pioneer in the area.— Reuter.