Manhattan Project feed materials program: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 09:54, 26 April 2025

Revision as of 13:02, 26 April 2025

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====Eldorado mine====

{{main|Eldorado Mine (Northwest Territories)}}

[[File:Gilbert Labine examining uranium ore at the Eldorado Mine located at Great Bear Lake, Northwest Territories.jpg|thumb|right|[[Gilbert LaBine]] examines uranium ore at the [[Eldorado Mine (Northwest Territories)|Eldorado Mine]] ]]

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}}

[[File:Gilbert Labine examining uranium ore at the Eldorado Mine located at Great Bear Lake, Northwest Territories.jpg|thumb|right|[[Gilbert LaBine]] examines uranium ore at the [[Eldorado Mine (Northwest Territories)|Eldorado Mine]] ]]

On 16 May, 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}}

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Complex negotiations followed between the Americans, British and Canadians regarding patent rights, export controls, and the exchange of scientific information, but the purchase was approved when Churchill and Roosevelt met at the [[Second Washington Conference]] in June 1942.{{sfn|Hewlett|Anderson|1962|pp=85–86}} Over the next eighteen months, LaBine and John Proctor from the [[Imperial Bank of Canada]] criss-crossed North America buying up stock in Eldorado Gold Mines,{{sfn|Bothwell|1984|pp=123–124}} which changed its name to the more accurate Eldorado Mining and Refining on 3 June 1943.{{sfn|Manhattan District|1947a|p=3.1}} On 28 January 1944, Howe announced in the [[House of Commons of Canada]] that Eldorado had become a [[crown corporation]], and the remaining shareholders would be reimbursed at $1.35 a share.{{sfn|Bothwell|1984|p=149}}

Shortly after to the nationalization of Eldorado Gold Mines, the Canadian government initiated an investigation into the company's historical management practices and operations tha yielded evidence suggesting fraudulent activities.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Sylvain |first=Lumbroso |last2=Wentzell |first2=Tyler |date=2 January 2024-01-02 |title=Unearthing a Nuclear Scandal |url=https://thewalrus.ca/unearthing-a-nuclear-scandal/ |access-date=2025-04-26 April 2025 |website=The Walrus |language=en-US}}</ref> As a result, in February 1946, Marcel Pochon, financial director Carl French, and Boris Pregel were charged with criminal conspiracy and fraud. They were alleged to have misappropriated and significant funds from Eldorado through a network of secretly controlled companies.<ref>{{Cite news |date=12 February 1946 |title=Uranium To Forefront In Spy Ring Inquiry |url=https://princealbertlibrary.ca/padh/1946/February/Feb%2019,1946.pdf |worknewspaper=[[Prince Albert Daily Herald]] |pages=1 &, 8 |access-date=26 April 2025 }}</ref> However, the criminal proceedings against Pochon, French, and Pregel were discontinued. This decision was reportedly driven by the Canadian government's desire to avoid public disclosure of potentially sensitive wartime transactions. Terms of any settlement reached with Eldorado remained confidential.<ref name=":0" /> Related scrutiny also brought to light reports that Pregel, operating with U.S. government authorization, had facilitated the sale of 0.23 tonnes of uranium oxide to the Soviet Union during the war period. This transaction indicated that the distribution of Canadian uranium was not solely confined to the Manhattan Project.<ref>''{{cite magazine |title=Mining: Uranium Unlimited? |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' March|issue=11 |date=13, March 1950 |pp=83–84 |url=https://time.com/vault/issue/1950-03-13/page/87/ |access-date=26 April 2025}}</ref>

====Production====