50 YEARS AGO/MAY 1950

Base metal prices were the highest ever, staying “in line with the buoyant state of business activity,” including record U.S. steel production and housing construction. Prices for copper, zinc and lead all increased. Zinc alone increased in price seven times in the previous two months, settling at 12 per lb. in early May. Copper had also edged higher, and producers Kennecott and Phelps Dodge vowed to keep prices stable at about 19.5. Additionally, market-watchers speculated that unprecedented steel demand could drive the price of nickel above 40.

Executives from U.S. steel producers urged Washington to support a Canadian plan to build the St. Lawrence Seaway. The heads of companies such as Republic Steel and Armco Steel argued that the seaway, a series of locks bypassing a 100-mile stretch of rapids near Montreal, would provide a dependable supply route for iron from Labrador to industrial centres on the shores of the Great Lakes. Estimates place the U.S. share of costs at $492 million. Canada was obligated to spend $228 million.

With the field season just around the corner, exploration activity in Canada was expected to increase over levels reported for the previous year. Explorers predicted that the year’s hot spots would be the Chibougamau, Bachelor Lake and Newlund areas in Ontario and Quebec. Other destinations included the Northwest Territories, the Montreal River region and northern Saskatchewan.

Price increases in gold, uranium and base metals were credited with spurring the increased activity in metal exploration.

Exploration programs by three gold producers in Ontario and a long-established camp in Quebec expanded operations.

In Ontario, the New Dickenson mine, near Red Lake, recovered 478 ft. grading between US$14 and US$19.25 per ton. (Gold was trading at about US$38 per oz.) The program set the stage for an expansion of the new underground operation. In advancing a property near Kenora to production, Newlund Mines discovered another deposit during underground development work. One sample from a crosscut graded 0.33 oz. over a width of 45 ft.

In Quebec’s Malartic region, Canadian Malartic Gold Mines discovered a deposit while conducting definition drilling on another. Company officials say drill results indicate “substantial tonnage of what appears to be better-than-average-grade material.”