Greenland Calls - Part 3 The Mine

The Black Angel deposit was lead/zinc, discovered in the early part of the 20th century but not put into production until the 1970's.  Initial mine development was done by JS Redpath, who maintained a presence at the mine over most of its life due to the great work done in the early days to excavate a portal on the side of a sheer rock cliff about 2,000 ft above the ocean.  An ice cap covered the top of the mountain containing the deposit, and permafrost extended deep into the mountain.  Because of this the mine was quite dry and cold.  Air temperature inside the mine was normally around -1C, so normal water would be frozen.  As a result, the mine used salt water for normal mine operations.  Water was constantly hoisted up to the mine in large containers to replace water lost to evaporation or to the ore handling system.  The photo below shows the outline of the Black Angel on the mountain with the camp in the foreground.

In our track drift we used salt water for muckpile washing and for drilling.  Because of its corrosiveness we had special jacklegs made by Joy to resist rusting from the salt.  They were much heavier than normal jacklegs, but they were impressive drills with unequalled power for those days.  The drift itself was 3.2 by 3.5 meters in area, the largest track drift I had ever worked in.  We used an Eimco 25 muck machine to load blasted waste into 10 tonne granby style cars that were hauled to the portal where they would be dumped over the edge of the mountain and into the ocean.  Quite a sight to watch it from the top looking down!  Air and water pipes were galvanized to resist corrosion.  Both pipe and rail were 6 meters long, which was exactly the length of two full rounds.  This meant that if you were on track when you started you would be on track for your entire four month rotation unless someone missed their round....something that never happened.  And if you were on track then your crosshift did the pipe installation, and they stayed on pipe for their entire rotation.



The main mine infrastructure was below the orebody.  Ramps were used to access ore zones, where room and pillar was the main mining method.  Ore was sent through raises to a tram system and hauled to a crusher before being loaded into 50 tonne skips and lowered to a storage bin next to the mill, which was located near the camp.  Concentrate would be stored onsite until spring breakup, when it was shipped to smelters in Europe.  All in all it was a very efficient operation.  Most of the mine employees were Danes, Greenlanders or Swedes.  They were supported by contractors like Redpath for specialized work, such as the drift we were driving and cable tram maintenance.

Located near the portal was a well equipped lunch room/refuge station where everyone received a hot lunch brought up from the camp.  The drift crew often missed lunch due to our location at the extreme opposite end of the mine, but we had a small heated workshop where we would sometimes visit for a quick lunch.  It was manned by a Redpath mechanic who brought up fresh Danish pastry for the drift crews every day.  His name was Bernie Scholtz, (seen below) a German by birth who lived in North Bay and had worked for Redpath for many years.  His main job was to keep us supplied with operating jacklegs, and to maintain our Eimco 25 as needed.

I stayed at the Black Angel for 120 days, arriving March 15, 1975 and leaving July 15th.  (My birthday)  I have a memory of earning about $16,000 over that time, or about $4,000 per month.  That was pretty good money for those times, and with nothing to spend it on it was all in the bank when I returned to Canada.  Over that time we advanced the drift about 2,000 ft.  It had already been driven about the same distance when I arrived, so there was still about 1,000 ft remaining when I left.  I always intended to go back, and I almost went in 1976, but it didn't happen.  I look back on my time there with fondness.  I wish I could go back to visit again but I know it will never happen.