Manhattan Project feed materials program: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 11:11, 24 April 2025

Revision as of 11:12, 24 April 2025

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After the Belgian Congo, the next most important source of uranium ore was Canada. Canadian ore came from the [[Eldorado Mine (Northwest Territories)|Eldorado Mine]] in the [[Great Bear Lake]] area, not far south of the [[Arctic Circle]].{{sfn|Jones|1985|pp=310–311}}{{sfn|Hewlett|Anderson|1962|pp=85–86}} In May 1930, [[Gilbert LaBine]] went prospecting in the area. LaBine was the managing director of Eldorado Gold Mines, a firm he co-founded in January 1926 with his brother Charlie, but which no longer had any gold mines.{{sfn|Bothwell|1984|pp=17–19}}

On 16 May 1930, LaBine found pitchblende near the shores of Echo Bay at a mine site that became [[Port Radium]].{{sfn|Bothwell|1984|pp=23–25}}<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Science: Radium |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |url=https://time.com/archive/6757353/science-radium/ |access-date=25 February 2025 }}</ref> Eldorado also established a processing plant at Port Hope, Ontario, the only facility of its kind in North America. To run it, LaBine hired Marcel Pochon, a French chemist who had learned how to refine radium under [[Pierre Curie]], who was working at the recently closed [[South Terras mine]] in Cornwall.{{sfn|Bothwell|1984|pp=55–57}}<ref>{{cite web |title=How Canada supplied uranium for the Manhattan Project |publisher=CBC Documentaries |url=https://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/how-canada-supplied-uranium-for-the-manhattan-project-1.7402051 |access-date=25 February 2025 |archive-date=11 February 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250211161617/https://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/how-canada-supplied-uranium-for-the-manhattan-project-1.7402051 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Science: Radium |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,758086-2,00.html |access-date=25 February 2025 |url-access=subscription |archive-date=10 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231010121538/https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,758086-2,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Ore was mined at Port Radium and shipped via [[Great Bear River|Great Bear]], [[Mackenzie River|Mackenzie]] and [[Slave River]]s to [[Waterways, Alberta]], and thence by rail to Port Hope.{{sfn|Bothwell|1984|pp=11–15}}<ref name="Macleans">{{cite magazine |title=Port Radium's Eldorado - The Mine that Shook the World |first=Ronald A. |last=Keith |magazine=Maclean's Magazine |date=15 November 1945 |via=Republic of Mining |url=https://republicofmining.com/2016/09/14/port-radiums-eldorado-the-mine-that-shook-the-world-by-ronald-a-keith-macleans-magazine-november-15-1945/ |access-date=26 February 2025}}</ref> Two [[towboat]]s were acquired: the ''Radium King'' and ''Radium Queen'', and they pulled ore [[scow]]s named ''Radium One'' to ''Radium Twelve''.{{sfn|Bothwell|1984|pp=66–67}}<ref>{{cite news |title=Discouraging Difficulties Overcome by Eldorado Pioneers |newspaper=[[Edmonton Bulletin]] |date=11 December 1945 |page=16 |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-edmonton-bulletin/113391751/ |access-date=26 February 2025}}</ref> Great Bear Lake is only navigable between early July and early October, being icebound the rest of the year,{{sfn|Bothwell|1984|pp=11, 41}} but mining activity continued year-round.{{sfn|Manhattan District|1947a|p=3.1}}

Competition from Union Minière was fierce and served to drive the price of radium down from CAD$70 per milligram in 1930 ({{Inflation|CA|70|1930|fmt=eq}}) to CAD$21 per milligram in 1937 ({{Inflation|CA|21|1937|fmt=eq}}). Boris Pregel negotiated a cartel deal with Union Minière under which each company gained exclusive access to its home market and split the rest of the world 60:40 in Union Minière's favor. The outbreak of war in September 1939 blocked access to hard-won European markets, especially Germany, a major customer for ceramic-grade uranium. Union Minière lost its refinery at [[Olen, Belgium|Olen]] when Belgium was overrun, forcing it to use Eldorado's mill at Port Hope.{{sfn|Bothwell|1984|pp=71–75}} With sufficient stocks on hand for five years of operations, Eldorado closed the mine in June 1940.{{sfn|Manhattan District|1947a|p=3.1}}{{sfn|Bothwell|1984|pp=102–107}}

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* {{cite book |last=Smyth |first=Henry DeWolf |author-link=Henry DeWolf Smyth |title=Atomic Energy for Military Purposes: the Official Report on the Development of the Atomic Bomb under the Auspices of the United States Government, 1940–1945 |___location=Princeton, New Jersey |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1945 |oclc=770285|title-link=Smyth Report}}

* {{cite book |last=Vanthemsche |first=Guy |title=Belgium and the Congo, 1885-1980 |date=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |___location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-19421-1 |oclc=801193141 }}

* {{cite book |last=Villa |first=Brian L. |title=The Second World War as a National Experience: Canada |contribution=Chapter 11: Alliance Politics and Atomic Collaboration, 1941–1943 |publisher=The Canadian Committee for the History of the Second World War, Department of National Defence |year=1981 |editor-first=Aster |editor-last=Sidney |editor-link=Sidney Aster |oclc=11646807 |url=http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/Canada/Natl_Exp/index.html |access-date=8 December 2014 |archive-date=17 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210917040749/http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/Canada/Natl_Exp/index.html |url-status=live }}

* {{cite journal |last=Wilhelm |first=H. A. |author-link=Harley A. Wilhelm |title=Development of Uranium Metal Production in America |journal=[[Journal of Chemical Education]] |issn=0021-9584 |date=February 1, 1960 |volume=37 |issue=2 |pages=56–68 |doi=10.1021/ed037p56 |bibcode=1960JChEd..37...56W |osti=4732659 }}

* {{cite book| last = Williams |first = Susan |authorlink = Susan Williams (historian) |date = 2016 |title = Spies in the Congo: America's Atomic Mission in World War II |___location = New York |publisher = [[Hachette Book Group|Hachette]] |isbn = 978-1-61039-655-4 }}

{{refend}}